Spinal Disorders

Khalid A. AlSaleh, FRCSC

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Orthopedic Surgery
 Objectives
• The ability to demonstrate knowledge of the
characteristics of the major conditions:
– Degenerative neck or back pain
– Spinal cord or root entrapment (for example,
herniated lumbar disc)
– Osteoporotic vertebral fracture
– Spinal deformity (scoliosis, spondylolisthesis)
– Destructive (infectious and tumor related) back pain
(for example, tuberculosis, metastasis, certain
cancers)
 Degenerative Spinal Disorders
• Degeneration:
• “deterioration of a tissue or an organ in which its
function is diminished or its structure is impaired”
• Other terms:
– “Spondylosis”
• “Degenerative disc disease”
• “Facet osteoarthrosis”
 Etiology
• Multi-factorial
– Genetic predisposition
– Age-related
– Some environmental factors:
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Previous injury, fracture or subluxation
• Deformity
• Operating heavy machinery, such as a tractor
 Anatomy
• Anterior elements:
– Vertebral body
– Inter-vertebral disc
• Degeneration occurs at the the disc
• Posterior elements
– Pedicles, laminae, spinous process, transverse
process, facet joints (2 in each level)
• Osteoarthrosis occurs at the facet joints
 Anatomy, cont.
• Neurologic elements:
– Spinal cord
– Nerve roots
– Cauda equina
 Pathology:
The inter-vertebral disc
• The first component of the 3 joint complex
– “motion segment”
• It is primarily loaded in FLEXION
– Composed of “annulus fibrosus” and “nucleus
pulposus”
• Degeneration of the nucleus:
– loss of cellular material, loss of hydration
→Pain!
 The inter-vertebral disc, cont.
• Disc degeneration will also cause
– Bulging of the disc
→”Spinal” stenosis
– Loss of disc height
→”Foraminal” stenosis
– Herniation of the nucleus
→”Radiculopathy”
(e.g. sciatica in the lumbar spine)
 Pathology:
The facet joints
• Scientific name: “zygapophysial joints”
– Synovial joints
– 2 in each motion segment
• Are primarily loaded in EXTENSION
– Pattern of degeneration similar to other synovial
joints
• Loss of hyaline cartilage, formation of osteophytes,
laxity in the joint capsule
 The facet joints, cont.
• Facet degeneration will cause:
– Hypertrophy, osteophyte formation
• Contributing to spinal stenosis or foraminal stenosis
– Laxity in the joint capsule
• Leading to instability (degenerative spondylolisthesis)
 Presentation
• Falls into 2 catagories:
– Mechanical pain: due to joint degeneration or
instability
• “Axial pain” in the neck or back
• Activity related-not present at rest
– Neurologic symptoms: due to neurologic impingement
• Spinal cord
– Presents as myelopathy, spinal cord injury
• Cauda equina & Nerve roots
– Presents as radiculopathy (e.g. sciatica) or neurogenic
claudication
 Presentation, cont.
• Mechanical pain
– Associated with movement
• Sitting, bending forward (flexion):
– originating from the disc
» “discogenic pain”
• Standing, bending backward (extension) :
– originating from the facet joints
» “Facet syndrome”
 Presentation, cont.
• Neurologic symptoms
– Spinal cord
• Myelopathy:
– Loss of motor power and balance
– Loss of dexterity
» Objects slipping from hands
– UMN deficit (rigidity, hyper-reflexia, positive Babinski..)
– Slowly progressive “step-wise” deterioration.
• Spinal cord injury
– Spinal stenosis associated with a higher risk of spinal cord
injury
 Presentation, cont.
• Cauda equina & Nerve roots
– Radiculopathy
• LMN deficit
• Commonest is sciatica, but cervical root impingement
causes similar complaints in the upper limb
– Neurogenic claudication
• Pain in both legs caused by walking
• Must be differentiated from vascular claudication
Vascular vs. Neurogenic claudication
 The Cervical spine: introduction
• Degenerative changes typically occur in C3-C7
• Presents with axial pain, myelopathy,
radiculopathy
• Physical examination:
– Stiffness (loss of ROM)
– Neurologic exam
• Weakness
• Loss of sensation
• Hyper-reflexia, hypertonia
• Special tests: Spurling’s sign
 The Cervical spine: Management
• Conservative treatment
– First line of treatment for axial neck pain and mild
neurologic symptoms (e.g. mild radiculopathy
without any motor deficit)
• Physiotherapy:
– Focus on ROM and muscle strengthening
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAID)
– E.g. Diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen
• Neuropathic medication: for radiculopathy pain
– E.g. Gabapentin or pregabalin
 The Cervical spine: Management
• Surgical management
– Indicated for:
• Spinal stenosis causing myelopathy
• Disc herniation causing severe radiculopathy and
weakness
• Failure of conservative treatment of axial neck pain or
mild radiculopathy
– Procedures:
• Anterior discectomy and fusion
• Posterior laminectomy
Anterior Discectomy and fusion
Break for 5 minutes
 The Lumbar spine
• Degenerative changes typically occur in L3-S1
• Presents with axial pain, Sciatica, neurogenic
claudication
• Physical examination:
– Stiffness (loss of ROM)
– Neurologic exam
• Weakness
• Loss of sensation
• Hypo-reflexia, hypo-tonia
• Special tests: SLRT
 The Lumbar spine: management
• Axial low back pain
– Conservative treatment if first-line and mainstay
of treatment
• Physiotherapy: core muscle strengthening, posture
training
• NSAID
– Surgical treatment indicated for:
• Instability or deformity
e.g. high-grade spondylolisthesis
• Failure of conservative treatment
Lumbar Spondylosis
Lumbar Spondylosis
 The Lumbar spine: management
• Spinal stenosis
– Conservative treatment is first line of treatment
• Activity modification, analgesics, epidural cortico-
steroid injections
– Surgical treatment
• Indicated for
– Acute Motor weakness e.g. drop foot
– failure of –minimum- 6 months of conservative treatment
• Spinal decompression (laminectomy) is the commonest
procedure
Spinal Stenosis
 The Lumbar spine: management
• Disc herniation
– Conservative treatment is first line of treatment
for mild sciatica without motor deficit
• Short (2-3 day) period of rest, NSAID, physiotherapy,
epidural cortico-steroid injection
• 95% of sciatica resolves within the first 3 months
without surgery
– Surgical treatment:
• Indicated for cauda-equina syndrome, motor deficit,
failure of 2 months of conservative treatment
• Procedure: Discectomy (only the herniated part)
Disc Herniation
Discectomy
Spinal Fusion
 Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures
• Pathologic fractures
• Anterior column (±middle column) only
compromised (Wedge/Burst Fracture)
• Often missed
• Repetitive fractures result in kyphotic
deformity (hunchback)
• Treat the underlying cause!!
 Spinal Deformities
• Scoliosis
– deformity of the spine in the Coronal plane
• Kyphosis:
– deformity of the spine in the Sagittal plane
• Spondylolisthesis
– Translation of one vertebra over another
 Types of scoliosis
• Congenital
– Associated with anomalies of the bony vertebral
column, e.g hemivertebra
• Acquired (=secondary)
– Secondary to other pathology, e.g tumor ,
infection
• Idiopathic
– Most common is adolescent type
 Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis
• Three dimensional deformity of the spine
– Vertebral Rotation is the hallmark
• Painless deformity
– Usually noticed by parents/others
• Examination:
– neurologically normal, positive Adams test
• Management:
– depends on age & degree of deformity
Scoliosis
Scoliosis
 Spondylolisthesis
• Conservative treatment first
• Surgery if Grade 3 or more or failed
conservative management.
• Types:
– “Degenerative” Spondylolisthesis
– “Isthmic” spondylolisthesis
• Caused by inter-articularis defect (spondylolysis)
Grades of spondylolisthesis
Spondylolisthesis
 Destructive Spinal Lesions
• Present with pain at rest or pain at night
• Associated with constitutional symptoms
• Most common causes
– Infection
– Tumors
• Vertebral body and pedicle are the
commonest sites of pathology
 Spinal Tumors
• Primary Spinal tumors:
– Rare
– Benign (e.g. osteoid osteoma) or malignant (e.g.
chordoma)
– Management depends on pathology
• Spinal metastasis
– Very common
– Biopsy required if primary unknown
 Spinal infections
• Most common is TB and Brucellosis
• History of contact with TB patient, raw milk
ingestion
• Potentially treatable diseases once diagnosis is
established and antimicrobials administered
Spinal Tuberculosis (with psoas abscess)
 Thanks,
Questions?