Background: Pressure ulcers and their management represent one of the most challenging situations following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). It requires frequent hospitalizations and hence aggravates the physical, psychological and socioeconomic burden of patients and their caregivers. Early surgical intervention will help in reducing the morbidity as well as improve the quality of life of these patients. In this study,we present a retrospective review of reconstructive surgeries for pressure sores highlighting the role of the plastic surgeon in the rehabilitation of traumatic SCI. Methods: A three-year retrospective review (January 2014–December 2017) of 25 traumatic SCI patients who underwent reconstructive surgeries for pressure ulcers in the Department of Plastic Surgery in a Tertiary Care Government Hospital in South India was done.Variables like demographic and clinical details, reconstructive procedures done, postoperative complications, duration of hospital stay and relation of wound complication with serum albumin were statistically analyzed and interpreted using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software. Results: Twenty-five male patients with age between 22 and 69 years (mean age = 49.4+/-12.24)were analyzed. 88% of the patients (n = 22) had paraplegia, and 12% had quadriplegia. 12% of patients had a cervical spinal injury, while 88% had a thoracolumbar injury. Mean duration of hospital stay was 36.5 days.Of the 25 patients, 68% (n = 17) had pressure sores at multiple sites while the rest had a single pressure sore. Of the total 49 pressure sores, 30 were ischial, 11 sacral, 7 trochanteric and one perineal pressure sore.Forty-five pressure sores were of grade II/IV and was managed with various flap reconstructions. One sacral pressure sore and one ischial pressure sore (grade II) underwent excision and primary closure. Split skin grafting was done for 2 sacral pressure sores. Postoperative wound complications were analyzed and there was a significant relation between hypoalbuminemia and major wound complications (Fischer exact p = <0.0001) Conclusion: Plastic surgeons have an important role to play in the rehabilitation phase of traumatic spinal cord injury patients with pressure sores. Early reconstructive surgeries for pressure sores will prevent the development of complications and provide better quality of life (QOL) for these patients.

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Giant cell tumors (GCTs) are rare in the mobile spine above the sacrum that most frequently presents with pain and neurologic deficit depending on the site of involvement. Complete excision of GCTs with appropriate reconstruction for the preservation of spinal integrity is the treatment of choice. We report a case of GCT involving dorsal vertebrae of a female patient, who was treated by wide local excision of the tumor, reconstruction of spinal integrity with expandable interbody cage and posterior instrumentation for large D2 and D3 giant cell tumor. Histopathology confirmed it as GCT. After 1 year of follow-up, the patient is doing well without any evidence of local and distant tumor recurrence.

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Background: We sought to assess efficacy, pain relief, surgical morbidity, and postoperative quality of life in patients who have undergone dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) lesioning for intractable brachial plexus injury and spinal cord injury neuropathic pain. Methods: We analyzed 16 patients who underwent DREZ lesioning between 2011 and 2016 by a single surgeon. All our patient's data was analyzed on pre- and post-op visual analog scale (VAS) scores, SF12, normalized dispersion index (NDI) score, questionnaires, and outcome scores. The mean age was 48 years (31–62 years) with 15 males and 1 female. Average follow up was 3.6 years. Results: Of the 16 patients, 3 (20%) patients experienced “excellent” postoperative (complete) pain relief with another 11 (69%) reporting “good” improvement and 1 (11%) had “good” improvement. Two patients (16%) had objective evidence of a new, mild motor deficit postoperatively. All the 16 patients (100%) stated they would recommend DREZ lesioning procedure to anyone with similar symptoms. There was a statistically significant improvement in VAS scores and quality of life scores at 5 years. Five patients had objective evidence of a new, mild posterior column and motor deficit postoperatively which improved within 6 months and 87% of them did not take any medication further. Conclusion: With the appropriate patient selection, DREZ lesioning is an efficacious and durable procedure that can be performed with low morbidity and very good patient outcomes for patients with brachial plexus avulsion and spinal cord injury pain. Awareness among doctors and patients is necessary.

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Background: To assess the outcome of surgical interventions in patients with spinal tuberculosis who presented late with severe neurological deficits. Materials and methods: Thirty-three patients with spinal tuberculosis with severe neurological deficits who underwent neurosurgical intervention at a tertiary care center from 2012 to 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The data was collected with regards to age, gender, clinical presentations, Frankel grading at presentation, surgery, and outcomes at follow-up. Results: Thirty-three patients (25 male, 8 female) with the mean age group of 32.2 years were studied. At presentation, all patients had spasticity, 26 (78 %) had bladder involvement. Thirty-two patients showed significant improvement (Frankel D/E) at 1 year follow-up. There was a remarkable improvement in the other symptoms such as pain (95%), spasticity (92%) and bladder symptoms (88%). Only one patient in Frankel grade A showed no good recovery. He had extensive multidrug-resistant systemic tuberculosis with HIV positivity and he expired 9 months post-surgery. Fourteen patients showed recovery in 3 months follow-up and rest showed improvements in 9 to 12 months follow-up. Conclusion: There was a remarkable improvement in the neurological outcome following the surgical decompression. Surgical decompression and fusion is a good option in patients with severe deficits unless the patient is medically unfit. Old age, cord changes, and bladder involvements are the factors which might delay the recovery.

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Hemangioma of spinal column is a common pathology but purely epidural spinal hemangioma, especially in pediatric age group, is rare and there are very few case reports available in English medical literature. We are reporting a case of cervicodorsal epidural arterio-venous hemangioma without vertebrae involvement in a pediatric patient to highlight difficulty in interpretation and importance of preoperative radiological diagnosis.

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