Spondylitis and neuralgia

BACKGROUND: Intercostal neuralgia is most common in patients with herpes zoster, but it might be the initial symptom of serious diseases, such as atraumatic spinal fracture, which may lead to serious consequences if not diagnosed and treated early. Severe intercostal neuralgia is rarely reported as the first symptom of ankylosing spondylitis with atraumatic vertebral fractures. CASE PRESENTATION: A 70-year-old Chinese Han man previously diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis presented to the hospital with intense intercostal pain without trauma...

OBJECTIVES AND STUDY DESIGN: The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate 45 patients operated upon either by posterior extensive circumferential decompression (PECD) or by the lateral extracavitary (LEC) technique and compare the clinical, radiologic, laboratory, and functional outcomes. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND: The debate continues on the best decompression-fusion technique for treating complicated spinal tuberculosis. In recent times, the advantages of combined surgery have been successfully achieved using the 1-stage salvage technique, with enough accessibility to all 3 spinal columns...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is a neuropathic component in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) back pain and to delineate gray matter brain abnormalities associated with AS. METHODS: Seventeen patients with back pain secondary to AS who were not receiving biologic agents and 17 age- and sex-matched healthy controls consented to participate in the study and were assessed using the painDETECT instrument (scores of ≤12 indicating low probability of neuropathic pain) and the McGill Pain Questionnaire...

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) has been recognized as one of the most common neurovascular syndromes caused by the vascular contact of the trigeminal nerve in its root entry zone (REZ) with a branch of the superior or anterior inferior cerebellar arteries, leading to a demyelinization of trigeminal sensory fibers within either the nerve root or, less commonly, the brainstem. There is a lack of certainty regarding the aetiology and pathophysiology of TN, therefore the treatment of trigeminal neuropathic pain disorders continues to be a major therapeutic challenge...

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Neck pain can occur in several circumstances: traumatic, spontaneous, associated or not with motion, with or without head or upper limb irradiations. Each case requires appropriate clinical examination and radiographs. CT and MRI can be used to obtain additional information. Myelography and arteriography are exceptionally used. Cervical discography and facet joint arthrography are used therapeutically. After a brief anatomical review, normal and pathological patterns will be reviewed using radiographs. Each circumstance is studied: traumatic, degenerative, inflammatory and tumoral...

We report a case of 67-year-old woman with 11-year history of hemodialysis that complain of neck pain associated with cervico-brachial neuralgia. Imaging finding simulate infectious spondylitis. We consider the diagnosis of destructive spondylarthropathy in hemodialyzed patient since etiologic investigation was negative and RMN finding was suggestive. Our patient was partially improved with symptomatic treatment.

Radioimmunoassay was employed to determine basal levels of LH, FSH, prolactin, total testosterone and 17 beta-estradiol in plasma from 52 pre- or postmenopausal women with prosopalgia consequent to cervical osteochondrosis. The measurements were made before and after laser treatment. Different from the control, basal levels of the hormones and the trends in their changes due to laser therapy depended on the patients' age and the disease stage.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the technique of C1-2 arthrography and recommend it as a suitable treatment for pain due to C1-2 abnormalities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred patients with the following conditions were studied: cervical pain or neuralgia without radiographic changes (group 1, n = 23), osteoarthritis (group 2, n = 37), rheumatoid arthritis (group 3, n = 23), ankylosing spondylarthritis (group 4, n = 5) and diverse conditions (group 5, n = 12). The technique consists of lateral puncture of the posterior aspect of the C1-2 joint with a 20-gauge needle under fluoroscopic control, arthrography using 1 ml contrast medium, and a 1-ml long-acting steroid injection subsequently...

This presentation will briefly describe the operation of this Pain Center and discuss the two chronic pain problems most commonly seen in our geriatric population: osteoarthritis of the spine and herpetic neuralgia. Osteoarthritis of the spine is the most common radiologic finding in middle-aged and older people with low back pain. 32% of our patients have this diagnosis as the basis of their chronic pain. The typical patient is 72 years old and has a past pain history which includes several years of back pain treated by various physicians with anti-inflammatory agents and analgesics to no avail...

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The craniocervical syndrome is an entity whose symptoms: vertigo, cephalea, tinnitus, facial pain, otalgia, dysphagia, pain of the carotid artery are thought to be caused by cervical factors. In the majority of cases the cranio-cervical syndrome is caused by a spondylarthrogenic segmental dysfunction whose pathophysiology is explained. In the pathogenesis lesions of the joints of the skull which may be responsible for pain and dysfunction in the segmental areas are of great importance. The neurology of the joints of the skull, as well as the pathological mechanisms of spondylarthrogenic disturbances, responsible for the different kinds of dysfunction of the equilibrium and for cephalea are discussed...

One-hundred patients with cervical vertebral changes, 100 with lumbar vertebral changes and 20 with ankylosing spondylitis were studied carrying out examinations of the sensation of touch, pain and vibration in these dermatomes and sclerotomes which are related to the levels of the most frequently occurring intervertebral disc changes. It was found that disturbances of the vibration sensation occurred significantly more frequently than disturbances of surface sensitivity, and their character suggested that they were a more specific sign of damage to the innervation of the spine than segmental disturbances of superficial sensitivity which are due to root damage...

Routine lateral tomography of the temporomandibular joint has resulted in a three-fold increase in the detection of positive findings. The technique is easily accomplished, eliminates the problem of superimposition of unwanted structures, permits a true lateral view of the condyle and condylar fossa, and allows small articular surface abnormalities to be identified. Although the entrance skin dose to the patient's face in the beam is about two times greater per exposure than that for our previous conventional open and closed lateral views, we believe that the increased dose is reasonable and the resulting improved diagnostic accuracy outweighs this disadvantage...

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