Tomiya Matsumoto

Articular cartilage repair with autologous bone marrow mesenchymal cells

Articular cartilage defects that do not repair spontaneously induce osteoarthritic changes in joints over a long period of observation. In this study, we examined the usefulness of transplanting culture‐expanded bone marrow mesenchymal cells into osteochondral defects of joints with cartilage defects. First, we performed experiments on rabbits and up on obtaining good results proceeded to perform the experiments on humans. Macroscopic and histological repair with this method was good, and good clinical results were obtained although there was no significant difference with the control group. Recent reports have indicated that this procedure is comparable to autologous chondrocyte implantation, and concluded that it was a good procedure because it required one step less than that required by surgery, reduced costs for patients, and minimized donor site morbidity. Although some reports have previously shown that progenitor cells formed a tumor when implanted into immune‐deficient mice after long term in vitro culture, the safety of the cell transplantation was confirmed by our clinical experience. Thus, this procedure is useful, effective, and safe, but the repaired tissues were not always hyaline cartilage. To obtain better repair with this procedure, treatment approaches using some growth factors during in vitro culture or gene transfection are being explored. J. Cell. Physiol. 225: 291–295, 2010.

Characteristics of diabetes associated with poor improvements in clinical outcomes after lumbar spine surgery.

Study Design. Retrospective review. Objective. Evaluation of the impact of diabetes on lumbar spine surgery. Summary of Background Data. Characteristics of diabetes that increase the risk of postoperative complications and poor surgical outcomes after lumbar spine surgery remain unclear. Methods. The demographic and clinical data of diabetic and nondiabetic patients, 50 years or older, undergoing lumbar spine surgery were reviewed. Japanese Orthopaedic Association and visual analogue scale scores for low back pain, leg pain, and numbness were assessed as perioperative outcomes. Analysis of covariance was used for comparison of perioperative outcomes to adjust for differences between the groups, and a proportional odds model was used to compute the odds ratio of poor improvement in each outcome. Results. Forty-one patients with diabetes were compared with 124 patients without diabetes. Visual analogue scale scores of final low back pain was higher for patients with than without diabetes (29.3 vs. 17.9, P = 0.013). Complications were similar in patients with and without diabetes except for nonunion after fusion surgery (20% vs. 3%, P = 0.095). When stratified by surgical procedure, final low back pain was significantly higher for patients with diabetes who underwent fusion surgery (39.1 vs. 17.4, P = 0.001). Patients with glycosylated hemoglobin of 6.5% or more displayed a 2-fold increase only in the odds ratio (OR) of poor improvement of low back pain (OR = 2.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99–5.70). Patients having diabetes for 20 years or more were more likely to experience poor improvement of low back pain and leg numbness (OR = 4.95; 95% CI, 1.69–14.5 and OR = 2.80; 95% CI, 0.98–7.94, respectively). Insulin use was associated with an increased OR for poor improvement of leg numbness (OR = 4.49; 95% CI, 1.24–16.3). Conclusion. Longstanding diabetes, poor glycemic control, and insulin use might be associated with poor postoperative improvement.

The influence of preoperative spinal sagittal balance on clinical outcomes after microendoscopic laminotomy in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis

OBJECT More information about the association between preoperative anterior translation of the C-7 plumb line and clinical outcomes after decompression surgery in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSS) would help resolve problems for patients with sagittal imbalance. The authors evaluated whether preoperative sagittal alignment of the spine affects low-back pain and clinical outcomes after microendoscopic laminotomy. METHODS This study was a retrospective review of prospectively collected surgical data. The study comprised 88 patients with LSS (47 men and 41 women) who ranged in age from 39 to 86 years (mean age 68.7 years). All patients had undergone microendoscopic laminotomy at Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine from May 2008 through October 2012. The minimum duration of clinical and radiological follow-up was 6 months. All patients were evaluated by Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) and visual analog scale (VAS) scores for low-back pain, leg pain, and leg numbness before and after surgery. The distance between the C-7 plumb line and the posterior corner of the sacrum (sagittal vertical axis [SVA]) was measured on lateral standing radiographs of the entire spine obtained before surgery. Radiological factors and clinical outcomes were compared between patients with a preoperative SVA ≥ 50 mm (forward-bending trunk [F] group) and patients with a preoperative SVA < 50 mm (control [C] group). A total of 35 patients were allocated to the F group (19 male and 16 female) and 53 to the C group (28 male and 25 female). RESULTS The mean SVA was 81.0 mm for patients in the F group and 22.0 mm for those in the C group. At final follow-up evaluation, no significant differences between the groups were found for the JOA score improvement ratio (73.3% vs 77.1%) or the VAS score for leg numbness (23.6 vs 24.0 mm); the VAS score for low-back pain was significantly higher for those in the F group (21.1 mm) than for those in the C group (11.0 mm); and the VAS score for leg pain tended to be higher for those in the F group (18.9 ± 29.1 mm) than for those in the C group (9.4 ± 16.0 mm). CONCLUSIONS Preoperative alignment of the spine in the sagittal plane did not affect JOA scores after microendoscopic laminotomy in patients with LSS. However, low-back pain was worse for patients with preoperative anterior translation of the C-7 plumb line than for those without.

Prognostic Factors for Reduction of Activities of Daily Living Following Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures

Study Design. Prospective cohort study. Objective. To elucidate the prognostic factors indicating reduced activities of daily living (ADL) at the time of the 6-month follow-up after osteoporotic vertebral fracture (OVF). Summary of Background Data. OVF has severe effects on ADL and quality of life (QOL) in elderly patients and leads to long-term deteriorations in physical condition. Many patients recover ADL with acceleration of bony union and spinal stability, but some experience impaired ADL even months after fracture. Identifying factors predicting reduced ADL after OVF may prove valuable. Methods. Subjects in this prospective study comprised 310 OVF patients from 25 institutes. All patients were treated conservatively without surgery. Pain, ADL, QOL, and other factors were evaluated on enrollment and at 6 months. ADL were evaluated using the criteria of the Japanese long-term care insurance system to evaluate the degree of independence. We defined reduced ADL as a reduction of at least single grade at 6 months after fracture and investigated factors predicting reduced ADL after OVF, using uni- and multivariate regression analysis. Results. ADL were reduced at 6 months after OVF in 66 of 310 patients (21.3%). In univariate analysis, age more than 75 years (P = 0.044), female sex (P = 0.041), 2 or more previous spine fractures (P = 0.009), presence of middle column injury (P = 0.021), and lack of regular exercise before fracture (P = 0.001) were significantly associated with reduced ADL. In multivariate analysis, presence of middle column injury (odds ratio [OR], 2.26; P = 0.022) and lack of regular exercise before fracture (OR, 2.49; P = 0.030) were significantly associated with reduced ADL. Conclusion. These results identified presence of middle column injury of the vertebral body and lack of regular exercise before fracture as prognostic factors for reduced ADL. With clarification and validation, these risk factors may provide crucial tools for determining subsequent OVF treatments. Patients showing these prognostic factors should be observed carefully and treated with more intensive treatment options.

Spinopelvic sagittal imbalance as a risk factor for adjacent-segment disease after single-segment posterior lumbar interbody fusion.

Objective The importance of spinopelvic balance and its implications for clinical outcomes after spinal arthrodesis has been reported in recent studies. However, little is known about the relationship between adjacent-segment disease (ASD) after lumbar arthrodesis and spinopelvic alignment. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between spinopelvic radiographic parameters and symptomatic ASD after L4–5 single-level posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). Methods This was a retrospective 1:5 matched case-control study. Twenty patients who had undergone revision surgery for symptomatic ASD after L4–5 PLIF and had standing radiographs of the whole spine before primary and revision surgeries were enrolled from 2005 to 2012. As a control group, 100 age-, sex-, and pathology-matched patients who had undergone L4–5 PLIF during the same period, had no signs of symptomatic ASD for more than 3 years, and had whole-spine radiographs at preoperation and last follow-up were selected. Mean age at the time of primary surgery was 68.9 years in the ASD group and 66.7 years in the control group. Several radiographic spinopelvic parameters were measured as follows: sagittal vertical axis (SVA), thoracic kyphosis (TK), sacral slope (SS), pelvic tilt (PT), pelvic incidence (PI), lumbar lordosis (LL), and segmental lordosis at L4–5 (SL) in the sagittal view, and C7–central sacral vertical line (C7-CSVL) in the coronal view. Radiological parameters were compared between the groups. Results No significant change was found between pre- and postoperative radiographic parameters in each group. In terms of preoperative radiographic parameters, the ASD group had significantly lower LL (40.7° vs 47.2°, p < 0.01) and significantly higher PT (27° vs 22.9°, p < 0.05) than the control group. SVA ≥ 50 mm was observed in 10 of 20 patients (50%) in the ASD group and in 21 of 100 patients (21%, p < 0.01) in the control group. PI-LL ≥ 10° was noted in 15 of 20 patients (75%) in the ASD group and in 40 of 100 patients (40%, p < 0.01) in the control group on preoperative radiographs. Postoperatively, the ASD group had significantly lower TK (22.5° vs 30.9°, p < 0.01) and lower LL (39.3° vs 48.1°, p < 0.05) than the control group had. PI-LL ≥ 10° was seen in 15 of 20 patients (75%) in the ASD group and in 43 of 100 patients (43%, p < 0.01) in the control group. Conclusions Preoperative global sagittal imbalance (SVA > 50 mm and higher PT), pre- and postoperative lower LL, and PI-LL mismatch were significantly associated with ASD. Therefore, even with a single-level PLIF, appropriate SL and LL should be obtained at surgery to improve spinopelvic sagittal imbalance. The results also suggest that the achievement of the appropriate LL and PI-LL prevents ASD after L4–5 PLIF.

Repair of critical long bone defects using frozen bone allografts coated with an rhBMP-2-retaining paste

BackgroundMassive frozen stocked allogeneic bone grafts are often used to reconstruct large bone defects caused by trauma or tumor resections. However, the long-term failure rate of such massive allografts was reported to be 25% because of infection, fracture, and nonunion. In this study, we evaluated the ability of a recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP)-2-retaining paste to promote the osteogenic potential of frozen stocked allogeneic bone grafts to repair intercalated femoral shaft defects in a rat model.MethodsAfter confirming the transplantation intolerance between two rat strains (Wistar and Lewis) by skin transplantation from Lewis rats to Wistar rats, an 8-mm-long bone segment was removed from the Wistar rats, and a frozen stocked allograft coated with the rhBMP-2-retaining paste from the Lewis rats was placed into the defect and subjected to intramedullary fixation with an 18-gauge injection needle pin. The allografted femurs were evaluated by radiographic, histologic, and biomechanical examinations at specified time points.ResultsThe results revealed successful repair of critical-size cortical bone defects by implanting frozen stocked allografts coated with the rhBMP-2-retaining synthetic biodegradable carrier paste from an immunologically intolerant host.ConclusionsThis experimental study suggest that allogeneic bone grafting in combination with rhBMP-2 and its local delivery system may represent an innovative approach to the reconstruction of bone defects.

Patient-Based Surgical Outcomes of Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion: Patient Satisfaction Analysis.

Study Design. A retrospective study. Objective. The purpose of this study was to investigate: (1) patient-based surgical outcomes of posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF); (2) correlations between patient-based surgical outcomes and surgeon-based surgical outcomes; (3) factors associated with patient satisfaction. Summary of Background Data. There have been no reports of patient-based surgical outcomes of PLIF for lumbar spondylolisthesis. Methods. Patients who underwent PLIF for L4 degenerative spondylolisthesis between 2006 and 2009 were reviewed (n = 121). Surgical outcomes were assessed 5 years after primary surgery using a questionnaire, a numerical rating scale (NRS) of pain, the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), the Japanese Orthopedic Association score (JOA score), and the recovery rate. The original questionnaire consisted of 5 categories, with scoring out of 100 points for surgery, satisfaction, improvement, recommendation to others, and willingness to undergo repeat surgery. Patient-based outcomes were divided into 3 groups according to the questionnaire responses as positive, intermediate, and negative and were compared with the JOA scores. Results. A total of 103 patients responded, for a response rate of 85%. The average patient-evaluated score for surgery was 82 points. The positive response rate in each category was 78% for satisfaction, 88% for improvement, 74% for recommendation, and 71% for repeat. The average pre- and postoperative JOA scores were 11.2 and 23.2, respectively. The average recovery rate was 68.5%. There were significant correlations between patient-based surgical outcomes and the JOA score. Furthermore, there were significant correlations between patient-based surgical outcomes and the NRS and physical component scores of the SF-36. Postoperative permanent motor loss was a major factor related to a negative response. Conclusion. The patient-evaluated score for surgery was 82 points. More than 70% of patients gave positive responses in all sections of the questionnaire. There were significant correlations between patient-based and surgeon-based surgical outcomes. Level of Evidence: 2

High-dose tranexamic acid reduces intraoperative and postoperative blood loss in posterior lumbar interbody fusion

OBJECTIVE Tranexamic acid (TXA), a synthetic antifibrinolytic drug, has been reported to reduce blood loss in orthopedic surgery, but there have been few reports of its use in spine surgery. Previous studies included limitations in terms of different TXA dose regimens, different levels and numbers of fused segments, and different surgical techniques. Therefore, the authors decided to strictly limit TXA dose regimens, surgical techniques, and fused segments in this study. There have been no reports of using TXA for prevention of intraoperative and postoperative blood loss in posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of high-dose TXA in reducing blood loss and its safety during single-level PLIF. METHODS The study was a nonrandomized, case-controlled trial. Sixty consecutive patients underwent single-level PLIF at a single institution. The first 30 patients did not receive TXA. The next 30 patients received 2000 mg of intravenous TXA 15 minutes before the skin incision was performed and received the same dose again 16 hours after the surgery. Intra- and postoperative blood loss was compared between the groups. RESULTS There were no statistically significant differences in preoperative parameters of age, sex, body mass index, preoperative diagnosis, or operating time. The TXA group experienced significantly less intraoperative blood loss (mean 253 ml) compared with the control group (mean 415 ml; p < 0.01). The TXA group also had significantly less postoperative blood loss over 40 hours (mean 321 ml) compared with the control group (mean 668 ml; p < 0.01). Total blood loss in the TXA group (mean 574 ml) was significantly lower than in the control group (mean 1080 ml; p < 0.01). From 2 hours to 40 hours, postoperative blood loss in the TXA group was consistently significantly lower. There were no perioperative complications, including thromboembolic events. CONCLUSIONS High-dose TXA significantly reduced both intra- and postoperative blood loss without causing any complications during or after single-level PLIF.

Prevalence of Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis in Patients with Spinal Disorders

Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) in patients with spinal diseases determined by roentgen images of the whole spine. Overview of Literature Although several studies have investigated the prevalence of DISH in healthy subjects, no detailed data have been reported on the prevalence of DISH in patients with degenerative spinal disorders. Methods Standing whole-spine roentgen images of 345 consecutive patients who underwent surgery in our hospital were obtained. Patients aged <18 years or with congenital spinal disease, metastatic spinal tumors, or inflammatory spinal disease were excluded. In total, 281 patients were eligible for inclusion. The presence of DISH was assessed according to Resnicks criteria and Matas scoring system. The prevalence, location, and numbers of fused vertebral bodies of DISH were recorded. Results DISH was present in 25.6% of patients (72/281). The prevalence of DISH in the 41–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, and ≥80 year age groups was 8.3% (2/24), 9.8% (5/51), 16.0% (12/75), 49.5% (48/97), and 33.3% (4/12), respectively; the prevalence increased with age. The average number of fused vertebral bodies was 7.5. More than 80% of DISH was located from T7 to T11, and more than 95% of DISH was located at T9/10. Patients with DISH were significantly older (71.1 years vs. 60.9 years, p<0.05), and men were more likely to have DISH than women (p<0.05). Conclusions In patients with degenerative spinal diseases with DISH, fused vertebrae were found most frequently in the lower thoracic spine, and their prevalence increased with age. DISH may be an age-related skeletal disorder with a higher overall prevalence in patients with spinal disorders than that in healthy subjects.

Factors associated with improvement in sagittal spinal alignment after microendoscopic laminotomy in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis

OBJECTIVE Little is known about the relationship between sagittal spinal alignment in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSS) and objective findings such as spinopelvic parameters, lumbar back muscle degeneration, and clinical data. The purpose of this study was to identify the preoperative clinical and radiological factors that predict improvement in sagittal spinal alignment after decompressive surgery in patients with LSS. METHODS The records of 61 patients with LSS who underwent microendoscopic laminotomy and had pre- and postoperative clinical data collected were retrospectively reviewed. Spinopelvic parameters, including sagittal vertical axis (SVA), lumbar lordosis (LL), sacral slope, pelvic tilt, and pelvic incidence (PI), were evaluated. On T2-weighted MRI, the cross-sectional area and the percentage of fat infiltration of the paravertebral muscles (PVMs) before surgery were calculated. For patients with preoperative SVA > 40 mm (n = 30), the correlation between SVA improvement and preoperative clinical and radiographic parameters was calculated. RESULTS SVA improvement correlated with preoperative LL (r = -0.39) and PI -LL (r = 0.54). Multiple regression analysis showed that preoperative PI -LL (beta = 0.62; p < 0.01) and symptom duration (beta = -0.40; p < 0.05) were independently associated with SVA improvement. The percentage of fat infiltration of the PVM at L4-5 was significantly greater in patients with preoperative SVA ≥ 40 mm than in those patients with SVA < 40 mm. CONCLUSIONS Preoperative PI -LL and symptom duration were independently associated with SVA improvement in LSS patients with forward-bending posture. PVM degeneration at the lower lumbar level was significantly greater among patients with preoperative SVA ≥ 40 mm than in patients with SVA < 40 mm.