Biosystems and Environmental Engineering Research Group, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe. Electronic address: wgwenzi@agric.uz.ac.zw.
This study aimed to compare the outcomes of microendoscopic cervical foraminotomy (MECF) versus full-endoscopic cervical foraminotomy (FECF) for treating cervical radiculopathy (CR).A retrospective st...
While anterior cervical discectomy and fusion as well as cervical disk arthroplasty are gold standard treatments for the surgical treatment of cervical radiculopathy, posterior endoscopic cervical for...
The learning curve in operative time for two fellowship-trained spine surgeons at independent institutions was retrospectively assessed for 90 uniportal PECF procedures (PBD: n = 26, CPH: n = 64) perf...
There was no significant difference in operative time between surgeons (p = 0.420). The start of a plateau for Surgeon 1 occurred at 9 cases and 111.6 min. The start of a plateau for Surgeon 2 occurre...
PECF is an advanced endoscopic technique with an initial improvement in operative time that occurred after as few as 8 cases to as many as 28 cases in this series. A second learning curve may occur wi...
There are no previously reported cases of locked-in syndrome occurring following cervical spinal surgery. We describe a case of locked-in syndrome following an elective cervical foraminotomy and discu...
A 54-year-old male with a history of head and neck cancer and prior anterior cervical discectomy and fusion presented with neck pain following a motor vehicle accident. The patient underwent C4-C7 lef...
The etiology of locked-in syndrome in our patient remains unclear, but it is likely multifactorial. It is possible that the patient was predisposed to vascular injury from prior radiation therapy to t...
This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for aggravation of cervical alignment after posterior cervical foraminotomy (PCF) and to identify their relationships with kyphotic changes in cervical...
Ninety-eight patients who underwent PCF for unilateral radiculopathy and received follow-up for more than 2 years were retrospectively reviewed. Segmental Cobb angle (SA), cervical Cobb angle (CA), Pf...
Group K was significantly older than group C (p = 0.002) and had a higher Pfirrmann grade (p = 0.025). In group K, neck pain had significantly increased at last follow-up (p < 0.001). Multivariate lin...
Contrary to previous studies, preoperative hypolordosis was not a risk factor for kyphotic changes in CA after PCF. Older patients with disc degeneration of Pfirrmann grade IV or greater for should be...
Narrative review....
The purpose of this study was to provide a review of the current evidence on the impact of posterior cervical foraminotomy (PCF) performed before or after cervical disk replacement (CDR)....
The impact of PCF on outcomes in the setting of CDR is an evolving field, given the recent widespread adoption of CDR and the relative rarity of patients who have undergone both procedures....
A literature search was conducted using PubMed to determine current evidence regarding the indications, outcomes, and biomechanical effects of CDR and PCF when performed alone or in combination....
When radicular symptoms persist following PCF, a CDR can be safely performed to provide further decompression. Conversely, a PCF can be safely performed following CDR for these same indications. The b...
A PCF can be safely performed before or after cervical disk arthroplasty for recurrent radicular symptoms....
Level V....
Learning curves describe the rate of performance improvements corresponding to the surgeon's caseload, followed by a plateau where limited further improvements are observed. This study aimed to determ...
The learning curve was evaluated using a learning curve cumulative summation test (LC-CUSUM). The goal for the operation time was set to 78 min, which is the mean operation time (mOT) of percutaneous ...
This study enrolled the first 50 patients who underwent single-level BE-PCF, performed by a single surgeon. The LC-CUSUM signalled competency for surgery at the 20th operation, indicating that suffici...
Our study shows that BE-PCF has a learning curve of 20 caseloads to achieve 90% proficiency, and it significantly reduces the operation time based on the performance of a senior surgeon proficient in ...
The primary purpose of this study was to determine radiation exposure of the surgeon during transforaminal endoscopic lumbar foraminotomy (TELF). Secondary purpose of this study was to compare clinica...
The author reviewed patients' medical records who underwent TELF at our institute from June 2015 to November 2022. A total of 40 patients were included (18 patients with C-TELF and 22 with O-TELF). Ba...
Average surgeon's effective dose in the C-TELF group was 0.036 mSv. In the case of the O-TELF group, there was no radiation exposure during operation. However, the operation time in the O-TELF group w...
O-TELF showed similarly favorable clinical and radiologic outcomes to C-TELF in lumbar foraminal stenosis, including complication rate. Compared to C-TELF, O-TELF has an advantage of not wearing a lea...
Posterior full-endoscopic cervical foraminotomy (PECF) is one of minimally invasive surgical techniques for cervical radiculopathy. Because of minimal disruption of posterior cervical structures, such...
Consecutive 52 patients (DH, 34 vs. FS, 18) who underwent PECF for single-level radiculopathy were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical parameters (neck disability index, neck pain and arm pain), and se...
Clinical parameters improved after PECF, with no significant differences between groups. Recurrent pain occurred in 6 patients and surgery (PECF, anterior discectomy and fusion) was performed in 2 pat...
Clinical and radiological outcomes after PECF were not different between DH and FS patients and kinematics were significantly improved. These findings may be informative in a shared decision-making pr...
Posterior cervical decompression is a common spine procedure that can be performed with the patient in prone or sitting position. The sitting position provides the potential benefits of more facile re...
A sterile digital camera was brought into the field to perform a sitting foraminotomy completed through the tube retractor at both C6-7 and C7-T1 levels. For half of the procedure, a typical neurosurg...
With a microscope, the surgeon with taller stature scored a 5 on the initial REBA scale, and the surgeon with shorter stature scored a 6, placing both in the medium-risk category. Once the tubular-bas...
Using a tubular-based digital camera system, the ergonomics of the surgery are substantially improved. The surgeon can stand closer to the operative field and look directly at a front-facing screen, a...
To describe the surgical technique and methodology to successfully plan and execute an endoscopic foraminotomy in patients with isthmic or degenerative spondylolisthesis, according to each patient's u...
Thirty patients with degenerative or isthmic spondylolisthesis (SL) with radicular symptoms were included from March 2019 to September 2022. Treating physician registered patients' baseline and imagin...
Nineteen patients (63.33%) had isthmic SL and 11 patients (36.67%) had degenerative SL. 75.86% of the cases had a Meyerding Grade 1 listhesis. One of the transforaminal foraminotomies with lateral rec...
In the presented case series, endoscopic foraminotomy achieved satisfactory outcomes without sacrificing segmental stability. The proposed patient-specific "tailored" approach allowed to successfully ...
