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Objective The aim of this study was to compare all-cause reoperation rates and costs in nonelderly patients treated with anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) with structural allograft versus synthetic cages for degenerative pathology. Methods We queried a private claims database to identify adult patients (≤ 65 years) who underwent single-level ACDF in a hospital setting using either structural allograft or a synthetic cage (polyetheretherketone, metal, or hybrid device), from 2010 to 2016. The rate of all-cause reoperations at 2 years were compared between the 2 groups. Index hospitalization costs and 90-day complication rates were also compared. Significance was set at p < 0.05. Results A total of 26,754 patients were included in the study. 11,514 patients (43%) underwent ACDF with structural allograft and 15,240 (57%) underwent ACDF with a synthetic cage. The patients in the allograft group were younger and more likely to be male. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups with respect to 90-day complications including: wound dehiscence, dysphagia, dysphonia, and hematoma/seroma. In the 2-year postoperative period, the synthetic cage group had a significantly higher rate of allcause reoperation compared to the allograft group (9.1% vs. 8.0%, p = 0.002). Index hospitalization costs were significantly higher in the synthetic cage group compared to those in the allograft group ($23,475 vs. $20,836, p < 0.001). Conclusion Structural allograft is associated with lower all-cause reoperation rates and lower index costs in nonelderly patients undergoing ACDF surgery for degenerative pathology. It is important to understand this data as we transition toward value-based care.

Spinal pain is a major clinical problem. Here the authors show that osteoclasts create porous area of endplates of the vertebrae and sensory innervation of porous endplates by Netrin-1 release from osteoclasts mediates PGE2-induced spinal hypersensitivity in mice.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

HIV-infected monocytes can infiltrate the blood brain barrier as differentiated macrophages to the central nervous system, becoming the primary source of viral and cellular neurotoxins. The final outcome is HIV-associated cognitive impairment (HACI), which remain prevalent today, possibly due to the longer life-span of the patients treated with combined anti-retroviral therapy. Our main goal was to characterize the proteome of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) from HACI patients, and its association with their cognitive status, to find novel targets for therapy.MDM were isolated from the peripheral blood of 14 HIV-seropositive women characterized for neurocognitive function, including: four normal cognition (NC), five asymptomatic (A), and five with cognitive impaired (CI). Proteins from macrophage lysates were isobaric-labeled with the microwave and magnetic (M2) sample preparation method followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based protein identification and quantification. Differences in protein abundance across groups classified by HACI status were determined using analysis of variance.A total of 2,519 proteins were identified with 2 or more peptides and 28 proteins were quantified as differentially expressed. Statistical analysis revealed increased abundance of 17 proteins in patients with HACI (p

Chronic HIV infection leads to the development of cognitive impairments, designated as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The secretion of soluble neurotoxic factors by HIV-infected macrophages plays a central role in the neuronal dysfunction and cell death associated with HAND. One potentially neurotoxic protein secreted by HIV-1 infected macrophages is cathepsin B. To explore the potential role of cathepsin B in neuronal cell death after HIV infection, we cultured HIV-1(ADA) infected human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) and assayed them for expression and activity of cathepsin B and its inhibitors, cystatins B and C. The neurotoxic activity of the secreted cathepsin B was determined by incubating cells from the neuronal cell line SK-N-SH with MDM conditioned media (MCM) from HIV-1 infected cultures. We found that HIV-1 infected MDM secreted significantly higher levels of cathepsin B than did uninfected cells. Moreover, the activity of secreted cathepsin B was significantly increased in HIV-infected MDM at the peak of viral production. Incubation of neuronal cells with supernatants from HIV-infected MDM resulted in a significant increase in the numbers of apoptotic neurons, and this increase was reversed by the addition of either the cathepsin B inhibitor CA-074 or a monoclonal antibody to cathepsin B. In situ proximity ligation assays indicated that the increased neurotoxic activity of the cathepsin B secreted by HIV-infected MDM resulted from decreased interactions between the enzyme and its inhibitors, cystatins B and C. Furthermore, preliminary in vivo studies of human post-mortem brain tissue suggested an upregulation of cathepsin B immunoreactivity in the hippocampus and basal ganglia in individuals with HAND. Our results demonstrate that HIV-1 infection upregulates cathepsin B in macrophages, increases cathepsin B activity, and reduces cystatin-cathepsin interactions, contributing to neuronal apoptosis. These findings provide new evidence for the role of cathepsin B in neuronal cell death induced by HIV-infected macrophages.

Abstract  Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty is a treatment option for patients with symptomatic glenohumeral arthritis and a deficient rotator cuff. The reported complication rates vary from 0% to 68%. Given this variation, our purposes were to (1) determine the learning curve for the procedure, (2) identify complications and surgical pitfalls, and (3) compare our results with those of similar published series. We retrospectively reviewed 20 consecutive patients (mean age, 73 years; range, 45–88 years) who had reverse total shoulder arthroplasty by one surgeon, tabulating intraoperative and postoperative complications. Minimum followup was 3 months (average, 9 months; range, 3–21 months). The intraoperative complication rate for the first 10 patients was higher than that for the second 10 patients. There were 33 complications in 15 patients: 11 patients collectively had 22 intraoperative complications and eight patients collectively had 11 postoperative complications. At radiographic followup, 11 patients had scapular notching and nine patients had heterotopic ossification. Our complication rate was higher than published rates. Level of Evidence: Level II, prognostic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STUDY DESIGN.: Prospective multicenter cohort study.OBJECTIVE.: To assess the: (1) agreement between surgeon and independent review of fusion after single-level anterior cervical decompression and fusion, and (2) influence of surgeon impression of patient status on agreement.SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA.: Failure to achieve fusion can lead to poor functional outcome. Visual inspection of plain radiographs is used to assess fusion, but this assessmentʼs reliability is not well understood.METHODS.: Of 668 participants in the Cervical Spine Research Society Outcomes Study, 181 underwent single-level procedures. Three independent reviewers and each surgeon assessed fusion (i.e., radiographic trabecular bridging of the graft-vertebral body gap and absence of spinous process motion) on plain radiographs at 3 and 6 months after surgery. Agreement was evaluated with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The influence of surgeon impression of patient status on agreement was assessed with logistic regression analysis.RESULTS.: Agreement was high among reviewers (ICC 0.822 to 0.892) but poor between reviewers and surgeons (ICC 0.308 to 0.484); disagreement was higher when the surgeon reported medical (odds ratio [OR] = 0.19, 95%; confidence interval [CI] 0.12, 0.30; P < 0.001), neurologic (OR = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.21, P < 0.001), or functional (OR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.29, P < 0.001) improvement than when the surgeon did not report this improvement.CONCLUSIONS.: The finding that surgeons and independent reviewers disagreed on fusion assessment highlights the need for objective and reproducible measures of fusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]