The purpose of this report is not to describe a new condition but to remind those who seldom see smallpox of one of its most important and easily recognised complications. Bone infection can be late, almost silent and often most unexpected. It is usually symmetrical and almost always multiple. It does not affect the spine, pelvis and ribs, but does affect the arms, hands, legs and feet. It is destructive, unpreventable and untreatable. It ends with deformity but not with loss of life. The recognition of its etiology will prevent a great deal of unnecessary and unrewarding interference with a self-limiting disease

1. Seventy-five injuries of the cervical spine are reported. Fifty-three were dislocations and fracture-dislocations involving the third to the seventh segments. 2. The importance of careful examination in all neck injuries is stressed. 3. The injuries are divided into stable and unstable types and the causation of the instability is discussed. 4. Plaster immobilisation for more than six months failed in some patients to prevent recurrence of dislocation. 5. Operative treatment was advised in all cases of dislocation, the spine being wired and grafted with iliac bone. This prevents recurrence and shortens the period of convalescence

Aims

The aim of this study was to evaluate improvements in the quality and safety of paediatric spinal surgery following the implementation of a specialist Paediatric Spinal Surgical Team (PSST) in the operating theatre.

Aims

Magnetically controlled growing rods (MCGRs) allow non-invasive correction of the spinal deformity in the treatment of early-onset scoliosis. Conventional growing rod systems (CGRS) need repeated surgical distractions: these are associated with the effect of the ‘law of diminishing returns’.

The primary aim of this study was to quantify this effect in MCGRs over sequential distractions.

Localised Langerhans-cell histiocytosis of bone (eosinophilic granuloma) is a benign tumour-like condition with a variable clinical course. Different forms of treatment have been reported to give satisfactory results. However, previous series all contain patients with a wide age range. Our aim was to investigate the effect of skeletal maturity on the rate of recurrence of isolated eosinophilic granuloma of bone excluding those arising in the spine. We followed up 32 patients with an isolated eosinophilic granuloma for a mean of five years; 17 were skeletally immature. No recurrences were noted in the skeletally immature group even after biopsy alone. By contrast, four of 13 skeletally mature patients had a recurrence and required further surgery. This suggests that eosinophilic granuloma has a low rate of recurrence in skeletally immature patients

Cadaveric lumbar spine specimens of "motion segments", each including two vertebrae and the linking disc and facet joints, were compressed. The pressure across the facet joints was measured using interposed pressure-recording paper. This was repeated for 12 pairs of facet joints at four angles of posture and with three different disc heights. The results were that pressure between the facets increased significantly with narrowing of the disc space and with increasing angles of extension. Extra-articular impingement was found to be caused, or worsened, by disc space narrowing. Increased pressure or impingement may be a source of pain in patients with reduced disc spaces

This paper reports a prospective study of the value of ultrasonography in detecting lesions of the lumbar spine in patients with compressive sciatica. The measurements of the diameter of the spinal canal obtained by using ultrasound were compared with the findings at operation in 17 patients in whom a total of 50 sites were examined. The ultrasound beam failed to penetrate the spinal canal at 15 sites and at only 10 of the remaining 35 sites did the ultrasound correctly detect narrowing. It is concluded that ultrasonography is unreliable in identifying the site of compression of the spinal cord and nerve roots. The technical limitations and the probable causes of failure of the technique are discussed

A thoracolumbar gibbus is an uncommon but potentially dangerous feature of achondroplasia. In a series of unselected South African Negro achondroplasts, nine out of 17 had an abnormality of this type. In contrast, only one girl out of 20 affected individuals of European or mixed ancestry had a gibbus. It is likely that the high frequency of this deformity in South African Negro achondroplasts is the result of the traditional practice by which an infant is carried on the mother's back, with the legs straddling her waist and the spine in flexion. Wedging on the vulnerable vertebral bodies in the Negro achondroplastic infant can probably be prevented by avoiding this custom

1. The bone changes in four autopsied cases of Cushing's syndrome are described. The changes take the form of osteoporosis, which is most marked in the spine and the ribs. 2. The osteoporosis results from impaired osteoblastic bone formation in the presence of a normal degree of osteoclastic bone resorption. 3. Histological abnormalities of fracture callus in Cushing's syndrome indicate interference with the proliferation of osteoblasts and cartilage cells and with the formation of new tissue by these cells. 4. The bone changes in Cushing's syndrome are comparable with those produced in experimental animals by the administration of A.C.T.H. or cortisone

Aims

The classical longitudinal incision used for the direct anterior approach (DAA) to the hip does not follow the tension lines of the skin and can lead to impaired wound healing and poor cosmesis. The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the satisfaction with the scar, and functional and radiographic outcomes comparing the classic longitudinal incision with a modified skin crease ‘bikini’ when the DAA is used for total hip arthroplasty (THA).

There has been an increase in the incidence of bone and joint tuberculosis (BJTB) in The Netherlands and we have carried out an epidemiological study in order to find an explanation for this increase. Data from 1993 to 2000 from The Netherlands Tuberculosis Register (NTR) were used. In 1993 there was a total of 52 patients with BJTB. This figure increased gradually to 80 in 1999 before decreasing to 61 in 2000. There was a total of 12 447 patients with tuberculosis; BJTB was found in 532, accounting for 4.3% of all cases and 10.6% of all extrapulmonary cases. Localisation in the spine occurred in 56%. Certain immigrants, in particular from Somalia, were more likely to have BJTB than other immigrants or the native Dutch population. Increased age and female gender were associated with BJTB. Only 15% of BJTB patients also suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis. The usual long delay in the diagnosis of BJTB may be shortened if physicians are more aware of tuberculosis

The nerve roots of the cauda equina may be visualised by contrast-enhanced CT scans and by surface-coil MRI. We have identified the pattern of anatomy from L2-L3 to L5-S1 in 10 human cadaver specimens and correlated this with anatomical dissections. Individual roots are slightly more distinct on contrast-enhanced CT than on surface-coil MRI. There is a crescentic oblique pattern of nerve roots at the lower lumbar levels which is still apparent in the more crowded proximal sections. In all cases, the axial images correlated precisely with the dissections. Current imaging modalities can help the clinical understanding and management of abnormalities in this region of the spine

The lumbar spines of 22 patients were examined for disc degeneration by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and by discography. The results from 50 intervertebral discs visualised by both techniques were independently assessed and graded on a five-point scale from normality to gross degeneration and then compared. In 44 discs the results agreed. Of the six discs which gave differing results, four discrepancies were due to observer error and two to incorrect placement of the discographic needle. MRI was shown to be more accurate than discography in the diagnosis of disc degeneration. It has several major advantages, which should make it the investigation of choice

A syndrome of back and loin pain produced by impingement of the lowest rib against the iliac crest is described in six patients. All had noticed a significant loss of height and five had osteoporosis of the vertebral column. It is suggested that mechanical irritation of the lowest rib against the iliac crest was the cause of the pain and that subperiosteal resection of the outer two-thirds of the rib would stop this irritation and relieve the symptoms. The six patients who underwent resection of the twelfth rib all obtained relief of symptoms; in one patient the eleventh rib also was resected. At latest review 5 to 34 months postoperatively there has been no recurrence of symptoms

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to compare the appearance of the spine in 20 adolescents with proven symptomatic intervertebral disc herniations with that in 20 asymptomatic patients who acted as controls. Abnormality in the signal from the nucleus pulposus of one or more discs was present in all patients, while only four of the 20 controls had any abnormal signals. In all the patients the symptomatic disc produced an abnormal signal and in most a herniated fragment of the nucleus pulposus was identified. Fifteen of the 20 patients had multiple-disc abnormality: six had three abnormal discs and nine had two. This suggests there was an underlying diathesis in patients who later developed disc herniation

Twenty-four children with infantile or juvenile idiopathic scoliosis had their spines corrected and solidly fused posteriorly before the age of eleven years. The growth of the fusion area was then accurately measured for a mean of 4.5 years during the adolescent growth spurt. During this period all longitudinal growth in the posterior elements ceased. The vertebral bodies continued to grow anteriorly, but the thick posterior fusion prevented the development of a lordosis. Initially the anterior growth was accommodated by narrowing of the intervertebral disc spaces, but eventually the vertebral bodies bulged laterally towards the convexity and pivoted on the posterior fusion, giving rise to loss of correction, increasing vertebral rotation and recurrence of the rib hump

Twenty-eight patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis treated by anterior spinal fusion with Dwyer instrumentation were reviewed. The average length of follow-up was 6.9 years. This technique produced better correction of lateral curvature and rotation than Harrington instrumentation, particularly in the thoracolumbar and lumbar region. The length of spine requiring fusion was also shorter. There is, however, a tendency for Dwyer instrumentation to lead to kyphosis. Morbidity was significant and included one case of paraplegia, four cases of deep infection and one case of instrument failure. All of these complications, except one case of deep infection, occurred in patients with curves with an apex above the seventh thoracic vertebra

Fifty-four adults with eighty hips affected by congenital disease which had not been treated have been reviewed. Fifty-nine per cent of forty-two dislocated hips had fair or poor grading scores. The incidence of osteoarthritis was markedly increased in the presence of a well-developed false acetabulum. Unilateral dislocation led to valgus deformity and degenerative changes in the ipsilateral knee in seven of twenty-two patients. Dislocation did not increase the incidence of symptomatic lumbar spondylosis. The height of the dislocated head on the ilium was not found to be related to the prognosis for the hip, the knee or the lumbar spine and did not correlate with the development of the false acetabulum. Frank congenital subluxation eventually led to osteoarthritis of the hip

1. A high incidence of paraplegia following operations for the correction of severe scoliosis in adults led to an investigation of the normal blood supply of the human spinal cord. 2. This entailed three methods of study: micro-dissection of the vessels of the spinal cord in thirty-five cadavers; radiological measurements of the spinal canal in fifty healthy subjects; and a study of the macerated spinal column in six adult cadavers. 3. The blood supply of the spinal cord is shown to be least rich, and the spinal canal narrowest, from the T.4 to approximately the T.9 vertebral level. This is named the critical vascular zone of the spinal cord, the zone in which interference with the circulation is most likely to result in paraplegia