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Background: Posterior atlantoaxial fusion is an important armamentarium for neurosurgeons to treat several pathologies involving the craniovertebral junction. Although the potential advantages of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) are well documented in the lumbar spine, its indication for C1-C2 fusion has not been well characterized. In our institution, we apply rhBMP-2 to the C1-C2 joint either alone or with hydroxyapatite, locally harvested autograft chips, and/or morselized allogenic bone graft for selected cases-without conventional posterior structural bone graft. We report the clinical outcomes of the surgical technique to elucidate its feasibility., Methods: We performed a single-center, retrospective review of data from 2008 to 2016 and identified 69 patients who had undergone posterior atlantoaxial fusion with rhBMP-2. The clinical records of these patients were reviewed, and the baseline characteristics, operative data, and postoperative complications were collected and statistically analyzed., Results: The average age of the 69 patients was 60.8 ± 4.5 years, and 55.1% were women. With an average follow-up period of 21.1 ± 4.2 months, the C1-C2 fusion rate was 94.3% (65 of 69), and the average time to fusion was 11.4 ± 2.6 months (range, 5-23). The overall reoperation rate was 10.1% (7 of 69), with instrumentation failure in 7 patients (10.1%), adjacent segment disease in 2 (2.9%), and postoperative dysphagia and dyspnea in 2 patients (2.9%). No ectopic bone formation or soft tissue edema developed., Conclusions: Although retrospective and from a single center, our study has shown that rhBMP-2 usage at the C1-C2 joint without posterior structural bone grafting is a safe and reasonable surgical option., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Transforaminal endoscopic spine surgery is an emerging technique in spine surgery, but it offers 2 distinct challenges to spine surgeons looking to adopt it: 1) targeting spine pathology and 2) understanding the endoscopic anatomy visualized through the endoscope. Intraoperative computed tomography (CT)-guided navigation is also an emerging technique in spine surgery that is becoming widely adopted for its benefits in assisting surgeons in localizing pathology and guided spine instrumentation placement. In this technical note, we describe a technique that uses intraoperative CT-guided navigation concomitantly with a transforaminal endoscopic approach to decompress a L4-L5 foraminal heterotopic bone formation after an oblique lumbar interbody fusion. The addition of intraoperative CT-guided navigation proved beneficial in targeting the pathology during the procedure and ensuring that the pathology was resolved by offering postoperative CT visualization of the decompressed neural foramen., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: In sacropelvic fixation, the iliac screw technique offers biomechanically strong constructs, but its disadvantages include screw prominence, wound dehiscence, and postoperative pain secondary to the high profile nature. To overcome this drawback, S2-alar-iliac (S2AI) screws were developed as an alternative technique for sacropelvic fixation. This study aimed to compare the S2AI screw technique with the iliac screw technique in terms of postoperative symptomatic screw prominence., Methods: A retrospective review of the records of sacropelvic fusion procedures performed at a single institution between October 2010 and January 2015 identified 32 patients with 72 iliac screws and 68 patients with 148 S2AI screws, and clinical and radiographic data were collected. If a patient had wound dehiscence and/or tenderness in the buttock immediately overlying a pelvic screw head postoperatively, it was defined as symptomatic screw prominence. The minimal distance from screw head to skin (MDSS) on postoperative computed tomography scans was measured for each patient to clarify the relationship between symptomatic screw prominence and MDSS., Results: Mean follow-up period was 22.0 months. There was significantly more symptomatic pelvic screw prominence in the iliac screw group (11.1% vs. 1.4%, P = 0.002). MDSS ≤23 mm was the strongest predictor of symptomatic pelvic screw prominence, which yielded sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 94.1%, positive predictive value of 47.6%, and negative predictive value of 100%., Conclusions: The use of the S2AI screw technique resulted in a reduced rate of symptomatic screw prominence. MDSS ≤23 mm was the strongest predictor of symptomatic screw prominence., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)