Study Design: This study was a meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Objective: We investigated the mid-term to long-term outcomes of cervical disk arthroplasty (CDA) versus anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion (ACDF) for the surgical treatment of symptomatic cervical disk degenerative disease. Summary of Background Data: ACDF has been widely performed for the surgical treatment of symptomatic cervical disk degenerative disease. However, the loss of motion at the operated level has been hypothesized to accelerate adjacent-level disk degeneration. CDA was designed to preserve motion segments and decrease the risk/rate of adjacent segment degeneration. However, it is still uncertain whether mid-term to long-term outcomes after CDA is more effective and safer than those observed after ACDF. Methods: Two independent reviewers conducted a search of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases for RCTs with a minimum of 48 months of follow-up. For dichotomous variables, the risk ratio and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. For continuous variables, the standardized mean difference and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: Eleven RCTs, finally, were included. The rate of neurological success in the CDA group was not significantly different from that in the ACDF group. The pooled results show that patients who underwent CDA had a significantly greater improvement in Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Short Form 36 Health Survey physical component (SF-36 HSPC) than did those who underwent ACDF. No significant difference was found when comparing the neck and arm pain scores between the CDA and ACDF groups. The overall rate of secondary surgical procedures was significantly lower in patients who underwent CDA than in those who underwent ACDF. We observed similar overall rates of adverse events and adjacent segment degeneration when comparing the CDA group with the ACDF group. Conclusions: This meta-analysis provides evidence suggesting that CDA was superior to ACDF in terms of NDI score, SF-36 HSPC score, and low rate of secondary surgical procedures. Furthermore, no significant differences existed between the CDA group and the ACDF group in the neck pain visual analog scale score, arm pain visual analog scale score, the rate of neurological success, adjacent segment degeneration, and adverse events. Level of Evidence: Level 1.

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Background: The technique of lateral lumbar interbody fusion for the surgical treatment of patients with degenerative diseases of the lumbar spine was developed in the early 2000s. But at the same time in modern literature there is no uniform approach to the use this technique, clinical outcomes and radiological findings are contradictory. Aims: to conduct a multicenter analysis of clinical outcomes and instrumental data of direct lateral interbody fusion (DLIF) approach combined with transcutaneous pedicle fixation in patients with single-level degenerative disc diseases of the lumbar spine. Materials and methods: The study included 103 patients (63 men and 40 women, mean age 45.8±9.7 years) who underwent surgery followed by DLIF transcutaneous pedicle fixation. The surgery was performed at neurosurgical and vertebrological departments in Irkutsk (Russia), Omsk (Russia), and Astana (Kazakhstan). Dynamic observation and comprehensive clinical and instrumental evaluation of the treatment results were carried out for an 18-month period after surgery. Results: After the simultaneous decompressive-stabilizing intervention, in all patients we detected a decrease in the severity of pain syndrome on VAS — from 6.9±1.6 to 1.7±1.2 cm (p0.001), and improved quality of life index (Oswestry) — from 21.3±6.8 to 12.3±4.4% (p0.001). The instrumental methods of examination determined the effective indirect decompression: an increase in the size of interbody gap in the middle of its department compared with the preoperative value from 8.6±3.1 to 15.7±4.2 mm (p0.001) and an increase in the area of the intervertebral foramen (on the left with an average of 98.7±32.3 and 156.8±45.1 mm2, p0.001; on the right —99.7±37.3 to 153.4±38.7 mm2, p0.001). We also registered the restoration of both the segmental (from 10.2±3.8 to 13.6±6.7°, p0.001) and regional (from 32.8±5.9 to 48.2±7.3°, р0.001) lumbar lordosis. Complete interbody fusion was diagnosed in 87 (86.4%) patients. Complications were observed in 8.7% of cases. Conclusions: DLIF technique combined with transcutaneous transpedicular stabilization has high clinical efficacy confirmed by significant reduction in the severity of pain according to VAS. The studied approach improves the quality of life of patients by Oswestry index and reveals a low number of postoperative complications. The described simultaneous minimally invasive method of surgical treatment in patients with degenerative disc diseases allows to restore the sagittal profile of the lumbar spine and implement an effective stabilization of the operated vertebral-motor segments with a high degree of formation of interbody bone block.

Objective. To analyze and compare the measured values of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in tumors of the spinal canal with cell density and Ki-67 index of proliferative activity. Material and Methods. The study included diffusion-weighted MR images of 36 patients with different types of tumors of the spinal canal. In the morphological study of tumors, the degree of malignancy according to the WHO classification, the value of the Ki-67 index, and cell density were assessed. Results. The average

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