Chronic compression of the cervical myelon as complication of anterior interbody fusion (AIF): neurological improvement after late anterior decompression. Case report.

Severe neurological deficits directly related to intraoperative injury of the spinal cord and the nerve roots is a rare complication of anterior interbody fusion (AIF) in cervical spondylosis. A case of radiculopathy and Brown-Séquard Syndrome caused by a bone fragment following AIF in which a late anterior decompression and fusion of the cervical spine was performed four years after the initial operation is presented. Immediate relief of the radicular pain, improvement of the spasticity, and better sphincter control could be achieved. Therefore, patients with chronic anterior compression of an incomplete spinal cord injury after AIF may benefit from a late anterior decompression and fusion.

Surgical treatment of myeloradiculopathy in cervical spondylosis. A report on 438 operations.

In the past eleven years we have performed 438 microsurgical ventral discectomies with bilateral foraminotomy followed by fusion with palacos in the cervical spine in our clinic. An analysis of the preoperative symptoms shows a great variability and overlapping of the various segments. To determine the right level for the operation it is crucial that the results of the clinical and the radiological examinations be evaluated. The results of ascending myelography and CT scans are of great value. In cases of cervical myelopathy a multisegmental operation is often necessary to obtain good results. The complication rate was small in our patients and a second operation was only necessary in a few cases. We had very good postoperative results in radicular pain and muscle weakness. In patients with symptoms of cervical myelopathy we achieved considerable improvement.

Male stimuli are necessary for female sexual behavior and uterine growth in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster).

In reproductively naive female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) direct contact with male urine or housing in a male-soiled cage, in the absence of physical contact, resulted in increased uterine weights, but did not reliably elicit behavioral estrus (defined by lordosis). Physical contact with an unfamiliar male, for 1 hr or more, followed by 30 or 48 hr of continuous access to a male-soiled cage, induced lordosis in approximately two-thirds of the females tested. When females were physically exposed to a male for 18 hr and tested 6 hr later, 70% showed lordosis. However, when females receiving either 1 or 18 hr of male contact were removed from the presence of the male and placed in a clean cage for 24 hr, only 29-37% of the females subsequently showed lordosis. These results suggest that direct physical contact with the male or chemical stimuli from the male may be necessary to induce and maintain behavioral estrus in female prairie voles.