Tag: literature review

Posted on

Comparison of accuracy, revision, and perioperative outcomes in robot-assisted spine surgeries: systematic review and meta-analysis

J Neurosurg Spine 41:519–531, 2024

Pedicle screw placement guidance is critical in spinal fusions, and spinal surgery robots aim to improve accuracy and reduce complications. Current literature has yet to compare the relative merits of available robotic systems. In this review, the authors aimed to 1) assess the current state of spinal robotics literature; 2) conduct a meta-analysis of robotic performance based on accuracy, speed, and safety; and 3) offer recommendations for robotic system selection.

METHODS Following PRISMA guidelines, the authors conducted a systematic literature review across PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus as of April 28, 2022, for studies on approved robots for placing lumbar pedicle screws. Three reviewers screened and extracted data relating to the study characteristics, accuracy rate, intraoperative revisions, and reoperations. Secondary performance metrics included operative time, blood loss, and radiation exposure. The authors statistically compared the performance of the robots using a random-effects model to account for variation within and between the studies. Each robot was also compared with performance benchmarks of traditional techniques including freehand, fluoroscopic, and CT-navigated insertion. Finally, we performed a Duval and Tweedie trim-and-fill test to assess for the presence of publication bias.

RESULTS The authors identified 46 studies, describing 4670 patients and 25,054 screws, that evaluated 4 different robotic systems: Mazor X, ROSA, ExcelsiusGPS, and Cirq. The weighted accuracy rates of Gertzbein-Robbins classification grade A or B screws were as follows: ExcelsiusGPS, 98.0%; ROSA, 98.0%; Mazor, 98.2%; and Cirq, 94.2%. No robot was significantly more accurate than the others. However, the accuracy of the ExcelsiusGPS was significantly higher than that of traditional methods, and the accuracies of the Mazor and ROSA were significantly higher than that of fluoroscopy. The intraoperative revision rates were Cirq, 0.55%; ROSA, 0.91%; Mazor, 0.98%; and ExcelsiusGPS, 1.08%. The reoperation rates were Cirq, 0.28%; ExcelsiusGPS, 0.32%; and Mazor, 0.76% (no reoperations were reported for ROSA). Operative times were similar for all robots. Both the ExcelsiusGPS and Mazor were associated with significantly less blood loss than the ROSA. The Cirq had the lowest radiation exposure. Robots tended to be more accurate and generally their use was associated with fewer reoperations and less blood loss than freehand, fluoroscopic, or CT-navigated techniques.

CONCLUSIONS Robotic platforms perform comparably based on key metrics, with high accuracy rates and low intraoperative revision and reoperation rates. The spinal robotics publication rate will continue to accelerate, and choosing a robot will depend on the context of the practice.

Posted on

Spinal Intradural Arachnoid Cysts in Adults

Neurosurgery 92:450–463, 2023

Adult spinal intradural arachnoid cysts are rare pathologic entities with an unclear etiopathogenesis. These lesions can be dichotomized into primary (idiopathic) or secondary (related to inflammation, intradural surgery, or trauma) etiologies. Limited series have depicted optimal management strategies and clinical outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To illustrate our experience with spinal intradural arachnoid cysts and to present a literature review of surgically treated cysts to elucidate the clinical and anatomic differences between etiologies.

METHODS: Institutional review revealed 29 patients. Various data were extracted from the medical record. Initial and follow-up symptomatologies of the surgical cohort were compared. The literature review included case series describing cysts managed surgically.

RESULTS: From patients treated surgically at our institution (22), there was a significant reduction in thoracic back pain postoperatively (P = .034). A literature review yielded 271 additional cases. Overall, primary and secondary lesions accounted for 254 and 39 cases, respectively. Cysts of secondary origin were more likely localized ventral to the spinal cord (P = .013). The rate of symptomatic improvement after surgical intervention for primary cysts was more than double than that of secondary cysts (P < .001). Compared with primary etiologies, the rates of radiographic progression (P = .032) and repeat surgery (P = .041) were each more than double for secondary cysts.

CONCLUSION: Surgical intervention for spinal intradural arachnoid cysts improves thoracic back pain. The literature supports surgical intervention for symptomatic primary spinal intradural arachnoid cysts with improved clinical outcomes. Surgery should be cautiously considered for secondary cysts given worse outcomes.

Posted on

Adult Pilocytic Astrocytoma: An Institutional Series and Systematic Literature Review for Extent of Resection and Recurrence

World Neurosurg. (2018) 110:276-283

Pilocytic astrocytoma is a classically benign tumor that most often affects pediatric patients. Rarely, it occurs during adulthood. We present a case series and systematic literature review of adult pilocytic astrocytoma (APA) to examine the clinical presentation, extent of resection, and recurrence rate associated with this tumor in this population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our institutional records were retrospectively reviewed for cases of pilocytic astrocytoma in adults. A PubMed search identified English-language studies of pathology-proven APA. A meta-analysis was performed to determine the relationship between extent of tumor resection and recurrence.

RESULTS: Forty-six patients with APA were diagnosed at our institution (mean age 33.6  13.3; 24 [52%] female). Twenty-four patients (52%) underwent gross total resection, 11 (24%) subtotal resection, 4 (9%) near total resection, 4 (9%) observation after biopsy, and 3 (6%) radiotherapy alone. Tumors recurred or progressed in 6 (13%) patients, of whom 4 were treated by STR and 2 were treated by radiotherapy alone. Thirty-nine (95%) patients were still alive at last follow-up. A systematic literature review identified 415 patients with APA in 38 studies. Including our case series, 7 studies reported extent of resection, followup, and recurrence. Of 254 patients with a weighted mean follow-up of 77.7  49.6 (31e250) months, 129 (51%) were treated with gross total resection, and 125 (49%) underwent subtotal resection. Tumor recurred in 79 (31%) patients, 22 (27%) after gross total resection and 57 (73%) after subtotal resection (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Pilocytic astrocytoma rarely presents during adulthood. Overall, prognosis is favorable and survival rates are high. APA recurrence is more likely after STR, and the goal of surgery should always be GTR when feasible.

Posted on

A systematic review of occipital cervical fusion: techniques and outcomes

J Neurosurg Spine 13:5–16, 2010. DOI: 10.3171/2010.3.SPINE08143

Numerous techniques have been historically used for occipitocervical fusion with varied results. The purpose of this study was to examine outcomes of various surgical techniques used in patients with various disease states to elucidate the most efficacious method of stabilization of the occipitocervical junction.

Methods. A literature search of peer-reviewed articles was performed using PubMed and CINAHL/Ovid. The key words “occipitocervical fusion,” “occipitocervical fixation,” “cervical instrumentation,” and “occipitocervical instrumentation” were used to search for relevant articles. Thirty-four studies were identified that met the search criteria. Within these studies, 799 adult patients who underwent posterior occipitocervical fusion were analyzed for radiographic and clinical outcomes including fusion rate, time to fusion, neurological outcomes, and the rate of adverse events.

Results. No articles stronger than Class IV were identified in the literature. Among the patients identified within the cited articles, the use of posterior screw/rod instrumentation constructs were associated with a lower rate of postoperative adverse events (33.33%) (p < 0.0001), lower rates of instrumentation failure (7.89%) (p < 0.0001), and improved neurological outcomes (81.58%) (p < 0.0001) when compared with posterior wiring/rod, screw/plate, and onlay in situ bone grafting techniques. The surgical technique associated with the highest fusion rate was posterior wiring and rods (95.9%) (p = 0.0484), which also demonstrated the shortest fusion time (p < 0.0064). Screw/rod techniques also had a high fusion rate, fusing in 93.02% of cases. When comparing outcomes of surgical techniques depending on the disease status, inflammatory diseases had the lowest rate of instrumentation failure (0%) and the highest rate of neurological improvement (90.91%) following the use of screw/rod techniques. Occipitocervical fusion performed for the treatment of tumors by using screw/rod techniques had the lowest fusion rate (57.14%) (p = 0.0089). Traumatic causes of occipitocervical instability had the highest percentage of pain improvement with the use of screw/plates (100% improvement) (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions. Based on the existing literature, techniques that use screw/rod constructs in occipitocervical fusion are associated with very favorable outcomes in all categories assessed for all disease processes. For patients requiring occipitocervical arthrodesis for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, screw/rod constructs are associated with the most favorable outcomes, while posterior wiring and onlay in situ bone grafting is associated with the least favorable outcomes. Occipitocervical arthrodesis performed for the diagnosis of tumor is associated with the lowest rate of successful arthrodesis using screw/rod techniques, while posterior wiring and rods have the highest rate of arthrodesis. The nonspecified disease group had the lowest rate of surgical adverse events and the highest rate of neurological improvement.

Posted on

Prognostic factors in intramedullary astrocytomas

Eur Spine J (2009) 18:1397–1422 DOI 10.1007/s00586-009-1076-8

Astrocytomas affect a significant portion of patients with intramedullary tumors. These infiltratively growing tumors are treated by a variety of methods—biopsy and decompressive surgery, maximal safe resection, adju- vant oncological therapy. Also, numerous prognostic factors are reported in the literature. Better understanding of factors that influence prognosis may help in treatment planning with the goal of prolonging survival. We have thus undertaken an extensive literature review in order to define factors affecting prognosis. A total of 38 articles were studied. Only tumor grade was consistently reported as the major factor affecting prognosis. The influence of other clinical factors (age, gender, history length, functional status, tumor location or extent, syrinx or cyst presence) can be speculated upon, but cannot be assessed adequately from the available literature. For both low- and high-grade (HG) astrocytomas, maximal safe tumor resection should be the primary treatment objective but is often not feasible in contrast to other intramedullary and spinal neoplasms. Since the biological nature of spinal cord HG glioma is identical to that of the brain, the same treatment algorithm of maximal safe resection followed by concomitant radio and chemotherapy would be sensible to implement.

Proudly powered by WordPress