Treatment and outcomes of patients with metastatic spinal cord compression: a double-center study.

OBJECTIVE: Spinal metastases may only affect the bone tissue and result in spinal instability or may additionally result in epidural compression, leading to neurological deficits. Surgery has emerged as a popular method in treating metastatic epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC) due to the advances in surgical techniques and instrumentation. In this study, we evaluated patients with MESCC regarding neurological status, pain status, and survival rates, and presented our experience managing MESCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Clinical and radiographic records of 53 patients diagnosed with MESCC between January 2011 and March 2017 were retrospectively evaluated. The study included patients with a pathological diagnosis of primary cancer, those who complained of spinal metastasis, and those who had indications of MESCC on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Bone structure and spinal stability were evaluated using assessed Computed Tomography (CT), and metastatic spread was considered using assessed Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in suitable cases. For each patient, the presence of a tumor compressing the spinal cord, age, gender, preoperative, and postoperative American Spinal Injury Association scores (ASIA), Tokuhashi prognostic score (TPS), affected spinal segment, pathological diagnosis, preoperative, and postoperative Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the status of spinal stability, follow-up period, and complications were evaluated. RESULTS: Forty-five patients (82.2% of them were women) underwent surgery with a mean age of 58.29 ± 15.14 years. The most frequent type of primary tumor was multiple myeloma (33.9%), followed by lung (24.6%), gastric (7.5%), and prostate (5.7%). The most common site of metastasis was the thoracic region (43.4%), followed by lumbar (24.5%), multiple (24.5%), and cervical (5.7%). The analysis indicated that a significant difference was found between the survival rates of the TPS categories. CONCLUSIONS: Common symptoms of MESCC include spinal pain and neurological deficit below the level of the injury. Prompt surgical treatment followed by oncological treatment leads to significant neurological recovery, more prolonged survival, pain relief, and improved quality of life in patients with a short survival time. Oncological treatments, including radiotherapy (RT), should be recommended after surgical treatment.

Electrical nerve stimulation method for intraoperative localization of the inferior alveolar nerve within the mandible: a pilot study in rabbits.

The efficacy of the electrical nerve stimulation method for localizing the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) within the mandibular bone was evaluated. Six New Zealand rabbits were used (both sides of the mandible). The IAN was stimulated through the mandibular bone and compound action potentials (CAPs) were recorded proximally from the main trunk of the nerve. Stimulation current pulse widths were set at 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 1ms. The minimum current magnitude that generated a CAP with a criterion level (300mV peak-to-peak amplitude) was measured in the range of 0.05-5mA. Correlations between the distance of the IAN from the active electrode site and the minimum current magnitudes were studied for each pulse width. The correlation coefficients were 0.678, 0.807, 0.893, 0.851, and 0.890 for the pulse widths of 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 1ms, respectively. The minimum current producing the criterion CAP response in the IAN was significantly (P<0.0001 for all pulse widths) and highly correlated with the distance between the stimulation site and the nerve. The results suggest that electrical nerve stimulation is a promising method that can be used for the localization of the IAN, especially during mandibular implant surgery.