Spinal injuries after falls from hunting tree stands

BACKGROUND CONTEXT

Spinal injuries are common sequelae of falls from hunting tree stands. Significant neurological injury is not uncommon and can result in significant morbidity as well as enormous expenditure of health care dollars. Recent literature on the subject is limited.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to identify precipitating causes, characterize the spectrum of spinal injury, and determine potential interventional safety and prevention recommendations.

STUDY DESIGN

A retrospective study.

METHODS

Medical record review of 22 patients admitted either directly or via referral to a level I spinal cord injury referral center over a 10-year period (1995-2005) after a fall from a hunting tree stand.

RESULTS

All patients were men with a mean age of 46 years (range, 27-80 years). Initial acute care hospitalization averaged 10 days (range, 2-28 days). The average height of fall was 18 feet (range, 10-30 feet). Four of 19 falls (21%) occurred during the morning hours, 2 of 19 falls occurred during the afternoon, and 13 of 19 falls (68%) occurred during the evening hours. Time lapse from injury to presentation to an emergency department ranged from 30 minutes to 14 hours. Alcohol use was a factor in 2 of 20 falls (10%). Hypothermia complicated 3 of 21 cases (14%). Associated injuries were present in 12 of 21 patients (57%) and included fractures to the axial and appendicular skeleton, pneumothoraces, a retroperitoneal bleed, and a brachial plexopathy. Eight of 22 patients (37%) sustained injury to the cervical spine. Five of these 8 patients (63%) had neurological deficits (3 complete and 2 incomplete spinal cord injuries). Thirteen of 22 (59%) patients sustained injury to the thoracic or lumbar spine. Ten of these 13 (77%) had neurologic deficits (3 complete and 7 incomplete). Nine of 22 (41%) patients were treated nonoperatively; the remaining 13 (59%) underwent operative intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

Falls from hunting tree stands remain a significant cause of spinal injury and subsequent disability. The best intervention for these injuries is prevention. There is a continued need for hunter safety education to reduce the incidence of these injuries with emphasis on safety harness usage, proper installation and annual inspection of tree stands, hunting in groups with periodic contact, the use of communication devices, and abstinence from alcohol consumption while hunting.

Convection-enhanced delivery in intact and lesioned peripheral nerve

OBJECT

Although the use of multiple agents is efficacious in animal models of peripheral nerve injury, translation to clinical applications remains wanting. Previous agents used in trials in humans either engendered severe side effects or were ineffective. Because the blood-central nervous system barrier exists in nerves as it does in the brain, limited drug delivery poses a problem for translation of basic science advances into clinical applications. Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is a promising adjunct to current therapies for peripheral nerve injury. In the present study the authors assessed the capacity of convection to ferry macromolecules across sites of nerve injury in rat and primate models, examined the functional effects of convection on the intact nerve, and investigated the possibility of delivering a macromolecule to the spinal cord via retrograde convection from a peripherally introduced catheter.

METHODS

The authors developed a rodent model of convective delivery to lesioned sciatic nerves (injury due to crush or laceration in 76 nerves) and compared the results to a smaller series of five primates with similar injuries. In the intact nerve, convective delivery of vehicle generated only a transient neurapraxic deficit. Early after injury (postinjury Days 1, 3, 7, and 10), infusion failed to cross the site of injury in crushed or lacerated nerves. Fourteen days after crush injury, CED of radioactively-labeled albumin resulted in perfusion through the site of injury to distal growing neurites. In primates, successful convection through the site of crush injury occurred by postinjury Day 28. In contrast, in laceration models there was complete occlusion of the extracellular space to convective distribution at the site of laceration and repair, and convective distribution in the extracellular space crossed the site of injury only after there was histological evidence of completion of nerve regeneration. Finally, in two primates, retrograde infusion into the spinal cord through a peripheral nerve was achieved.

CONCLUSIONS

Convection provides a safe and effective means to deliver macromolecules to regenerating neurites in crush-injured peripheral nerves. Convection block in lacerated and suture-repaired nerves indicates a significant intraneural obstruction of the extracellular space. a disruption that suggests an anatomical obstruction to extracellular and, possibly, intraaxonal flow, which may impair nerve regeneration. Through peripheral retrograde infusion, convection can be used for delivery to spinal cord gray matter. Convection-enhanced delivery provides a promising approach to distribute therapeutic agents to targeted sites for treatment of disorders of the nerve and spinal cord.

Multiple pituitary adenomas in Cushing's disease

OBJECT

Clinically evident multiple pituitary adenomas rarely occur. The authors assess the incidence and clinical relevance of multiple adenomas in Cushing's disease.

METHODS

A prospective clinical database of 660 pituitary surgeries was analyzed to assess the incidence of multiple pituitary adenomas in Cushing's disease. Relevant radiographic scans, medical records, and histopathological reports were reviewed. Thirteen patients with at least two separate histopathologically confirmed pituitary adenomas were identified. Prolactinomas (nine patients) were the most common incidental tumors. Other incidental tumors included secretors of growth hormone ([GH], one patient) and GH and prolactin (two patients), and a null-cell tumor (one patient). In two patients, early repeated surgery was performed because the initial operation failed to correct hypercortisolism, in one instance because the tumor excised at the initial surgery was a prolactinoma, not an adrenocorticotropic hormone-secreting tumor. One patient had three distinct tumors.

CONCLUSIONS

Multiple pituitary adenomas are rare, but may complicate management of patients with pituitary disease.

Intramedullary tuberculoma of the spinal cord. Case report and review of the literature

Intramedullary spinal tuberculosis infection remains an extremely rare disease entity. In the most recent reviews only 148 cases have been reported in the world literature, although numerous recent reports from developing countries and on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients have increased this number. The authors present an unusual case of intramedullary tuberculoma in an HIV-negative patient from the southern United States who demonstrated no other signs or symptoms of tuberculosis infection. The authors believe that this is the first case of its kind to be presented in recent literature. The presentation of miliary disease via an isolated intramedullary spinal mass in a patient with no evident risk factors for tuberculosis infection emphasizes the importance of including tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis of spinal cord masses.