Spinal pain is a symptom caused by changes of the vertebral column or its adnexa. Sometimes spinal pain cannot be treated, especially in case of multiple pain lesions, because of its difficulty in evaluating original causes which contributes to the symptoms. Thus, the precise localization of the lesion causing symptoms is very important for targeted treatment. However, the diagnosis based on limited screening test including physical evaluation and radiological finding may lead to misdiagnosis of the actual lesion causing symptoms, failure of treatment, and unnecessary surgery. From this point of view, nonsurgical interventional for spinal pain can be helpful to diagnose the precise cause of spinal pain. We report several cases that nonsurgical interventional therapy which diagnosed the precise lesion that cause the spinal pain and treated successfully with nonsurgical interventional therapy for diagnostic purposes with therapeutic purpose.
Percutaneous lumbar epidural adhesiolysis is widely used a treatment for various chronic spinal pain but inadvertent complications of subdural, spinal, or intravascular injection can occur. We report a case of 63-year-old female with unusual pulsatile subdural injection image during attempted lumbar epidural adhesiolysis with fluoroscopy. Pulsatile image confined to the posterior aspect of the spinal canal at L3-4 level was observed. After recognizing subdural injection, we performed epidural adhesiolysis carefully without using steroid and local anesthetics under fluoroscopic guidance. Although unusual, pain physician needed to the understanding of the various subdural fluoroscopic contrast images.
Background : Plants of Taraxacum spp. are widely used in medicine, but some of them have some problems related to propagation, such as strong dormancy and inactive germination. This study investigated the effects of temperature, gibberellic acid (GA3), and potassium nitrate (KNO3) on seed germination in Taraxacum ohwianum. Methods and Results : The seeds (NIBRGR0000135524) were exalbuminous, and their length and width were 4.25 ± 0.118 mm and 0.89 ± 0.062 mm, respectively. Among various temperatures (15, 20, 25, and 30℃), the optimum temperature for germination was found to be 20℃ (31.3%). High temperature (30℃) induced off-type in seedlings (thickened and crumpled cotyledons, and restricted root system). GA3 treatments increased germination percentage and speed, but germination percentage was higher with KNO3 treatment. Under KNO3 treatments (50 to 200 mg·L-1), germination percentage exceeded 80% after 12 days, with 50 mg·L-1 KNO3 being notably effective (91.2%, after 15 days). Conclusion : Seeds of T. ohwianum showed germination ability at low temperature. The best method for germination was pre-soaking in 50 mg·L-1 KNO3 (4℃, dark, 24 h) and incubating at 20℃ for 15 days.
Background: We evaluated the effect of ulinastatin on paw withdrawal threshold (PWT), IL-6, and IL-10 in SD rats after spinal nerve ligation (SNL). Methods: Group C received N/S and Group E received ulinastatin IV for three days following SNL. PWT, IL-6, and IL-10 were measured on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th day. Results: Group E showed higher PWT compared to group C. IL-6 was lower in group E than in group C. No differences in IL-10 were observed between group C and group E. Conclusion: Ulinastatin increased the PWT and its effect appears to be involved with IL-6, not IL-10.
Spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) causes headache in the absence of tissue injury such as trauma, spinal cord injury, surgery, or epidural anesthesia. Epidural blood patch in the epidural space where CSF leakage occurs is effective for treatment of SIH. However, when the leakage site is unknown, administration of autologous blood into the lumbar epidural space could be effective. Here we report on patients who suffered from headache by SIH and could not confirm the leakage site, however, treatment by lumbar epidural blood patch was administered successfully.