Five-year results of cervical disc prostheses in the SWISSspine registry

BACKGROUND: The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health demanded a nationwide HTA-registry for cervical total disc arthroplasty (TDA), to decide about its reimbursement. The goal of the SWISSspine registry is to generate evidence about the safety and efficiency of cervical TDA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred thirty-two cases treated between 3.2005 and 6.2006 who were eligible for 5 years follow-ups were included in the study. Follow-up rates for 3-6 months, 1, 2 and 5 years were 84.6, 74.4, 50.6 and 64.8 %, respectively. Outcome measures were neck and arm pain, medication, quality of life, intraoperative and postoperative complication and revision rates. In addition, segmental mobility, ossification, adjacent and distant segment degeneration were analyzed at the 5-year follow-up. RESULTS: There was significant, clinically relevant and lasting reduction of neck (preop/postop 60/21 VAS points) and arm pain (preop/postop VAS 67/17) and a consequently decreased analgesics consumption and quality of life improvement (preop/postop 0.39/0.82 EQ-5D points) until the 5-year follow-up. The rates for intraoperative and early postoperative complications were 0.6 and 7.2 %, respectively. In 0.6 % an early and in 3.9 % a late revision surgery was performed. At the 5-year follow-up, the average range of motion of the mobile segments (88.2 %) was 10.2°. In 40.7 % of the patients osteophytes at least potentially affecting range of motion were seen. CONCLUSIONS: Cervical TDA appeared as safe and efficient in long-term pain alleviation, consequent reduction of pain killer consumption and in improvement of quality of life. The improvement is stable over the 5 years postoperative period. The vast majority of treated segments remained mobile after 5 years, although 40.7 % of patients showed osteophytes.

The role of postoperative prophylactic antibiotics in the treatment of facial fractures: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot clinical study. Part 1: orbital fractures in 62 patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate the difference between the effects of a 5-day and a 1-day course of antibiotics on the incidence of postoperative infection after displaced fractures of the orbit. A total of 62 patients with orbital blow-out fractures were randomly assigned to two groups, both of which were given amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 1.2g intravenously every 8h from the time of admission to 24h postoperatively. The 5-day group were then given amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 625mg orally every 8h for 4 further days. The 1-day group were given placebo orally at the same time intervals. Follow up appointments were 1, 2, 4, 6, and 12 weeks, and 6 months, postoperatively. An infection in the orbital region was the primary end point. Sixty of the 62 patients completed the study. Two of the 29 patients in the 5-day group (6.8%) and 1/31 patients in the 1-day group (3.2%) developed local infections. In the 5-day group 1 patient developed diarrhoea. In the 1-day group 1 patient developed a rash on the trunk. There were no significant differences in the incidence of infection or side effects between the groups. We conclude that in displaced orbital fractures a postoperative 1-day course of antibiotics is as effective in preventing infective complications as a 5-day regimen.

Clinical and radiographic outcome of dental implants supporting fixed prostheses: the relevance of cortical bone formation

To evaluate the hard and the soft tissue parameters around implants supporting fixed prostheses over a period of 5 years and the possible association to the increase in periimplant bone density (IPBD).

Dental injuries in pediatric patients with facial fractures are frequent and severe

This study was carried out to identify the occurrence, type, location, and severity of dental injuries (DIs), as well as predictors for DIs, in pediatric patients with facial fractures.

Facial basal cell carcinomas recurring after photodynamic therapy: a retrospective analysis of histological subtypes

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an established treatment for basal cell carcinomas (BCCs). Although recurrences are sometime observed, their histological patterns have never been specifically studied or compared with the one of the initial tumor.

Visual Speech Segmentation: Using Facial Cues to Locate Word Boundaries in Continuous Speech

Speech is typically a multimodal phenomenon, yet few studies have focused on the exclusive contributions of visual cues to language acquisition. To address this gap, we investigated whether visual prosodic information can facilitate speech segmentation. Previous research has demonstrated that language learners can use lexical stress and pitch cues to segment speech and that learners can extract this information from talking faces. Thus, we created an artificial speech stream that contained minimal segmentation cues and paired it with two synchronous facial displays in which visual prosody was either informative or uninformative for identifying word boundaries. Across three familiarisation conditions (audio stream alone, facial streams alone, and paired audiovisual), learning occurred only when the facial displays were informative to word boundaries, suggesting that facial cues can help learners solve the early challenges of language acquisition.

Peripheral facial nerve palsy in severe systemic hypertension: a systematic review

Signs of nervous system dysfunction such as headache or convulsions often occur in severe systemic hypertension. Less recognized is the association between severe hypertension and peripheral facial nerve palsy. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature on the association of peripheral facial palsy with severe hypertension.