Perioperative and short-term advantages of mini-open approach for lumbar spinal fusion.

It has been widely reported a vascular and neurologic damage of the lumbar muscles produced in the classic posterior approach for lumbar spinal fusions. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a better clinical and functional outcome in the postoperative and short term in patients undergoing minimal invasive surgery ("mini-open") for this lumbar spinal arthrodesis. We designed a prospective study with a 30 individuals cohort randomized in two groups, depending on the approach performed to get a instrumented lumbar circumferential arthrodesis: "classic posterior" (CL group) or "mini-open" approach (MO group). Several clinical and functional parameters were assessed, including blood loss, postoperative pain, analgesic requirements and daily life activities during hospital stay and at the 3-month follow-up. Patients of the "mini-open approach" group had a significant lower blood loss and hospital stay during admission. They also had significant lower analgesic requirements and faster recovery of daily life activities (specially moderate efforts) when compared to the patients of the "classic posterior approach" group. No significant differences were found between two groups in surgery timing, X-rays exposure or sciatic postoperative pain. This study, inline with previous investigations, reinforces the concept of minimizing the muscular lumbar damage with a mini-open approach for a faster and better recovery of patients' disability in the short term. Further investigations are necessary to confirm these findings in the long term, and to verify the achievement of a stable lumbar spinal fusion.

Estenosis de canal lumbar / Lumbar canal stenosis

La estenosis de canal lumbar se define como el estrechamiento estructural del canal raquídeo, de los recesos laterales o de los agujeros de conjunción en la zona lumbar. El diagnóstico se establece por la presencia de síndrome clínico y la confirmación mediante imágenes de un canal lumbar estrecho. La historia natural e incidencia de este síndrome es desconocida, aunque la demanda de tratamiento quirúrgico ha sufrido un incremento muy importante. La fisiopatología está determinada por el estrechamiento progresivo del canal lumbar por enfermedad degenerativa (colapso discal e hipertrofia facetaria y de ligamento amarillo) que produce compresión mecánica (estática o dinámica) de las raíces de la cauda equina, alterando su nutrición y metabolismo, lo que desencadena dolor y alteraciones neurológicas de extremidades inferiores (claudicación neurógena). La clínica es variable a lo largo de la evolución y diferente de unos individuos a otros con imágenes similares. La diversidad de resultados publicados, tanto del tratamiento conservador como del quirúrgico hace muy difícil establecer la técnica indicada y el pronóstico. Se considera obligatorio intentar el tratamiento conservador y ante su fracaso, el quirúrgico, que se basa en la descompresión, siendo discutible la necesidad de artrodesis y la instrumentación. Se revisan las exploraciones diagnósticas a realizar, las indicaciones y resultados del tratamiento conservador y quirúrgico (AU)

Reduction of acute anterior dislocations of the shoulder without anaesthesia in the position of maximum muscular relaxation.

This paper describes the results obtained in treating 128 acute anterior dislocations of the shoulder by a method of reduction which obtains the maximum degree of muscular relaxation without general anaesthesia. Excellent results were obtained. Subcoracoid dislocations were more difficult to reduce than subglenoid.