1. Samartzis D et al. Atlantoaxial Rotatory Fixation in the Setting of Associated Congenital Malformations. Spine 2010;35:E119–E127. New subtypes to the Fielding and Hawkins classification scheme for atlantoaxial rotatory fixation should exist to account for variations in anatomy and the existence of congenital anomalies/malformations.

2. Kim KH et al.  Adjacent Segment Disease After Interbody Fusion and Pedicle Screw Fixations for Isolated L4–L5 Spondylolisthesis. Spine 2010;35:625–634. A low postoperative segmental lordotic angle, especially less than 20°, at index level was related with development of clinical ASD in both isthmic and degenerative spondylolisthesis patients.

3. Ribas GC .The cerebral sulci and gyri. Neurosurg Focus 28 (2):E2, 2010.  Very detailed review of the literature regarding the historical, evolutionary, embryological, and anatomical aspects of the cerebral sulci and gyri to establish detailed descriptions of these structures, as well as their groupings in the brain lobes, for microneurosurgical purposes.

4. Diaz FL et al.  Cervical External Immobilization Devices: Evaluation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Issues at 3.0 Tesla. Spine 2010;35:411–415. Generation 80 and V1 Halo devices exhibited substantial temperature rises with “sparking” evident for the Generation 80 during the MRI procedure. Artifacts were problematic for these devices. The 2 Resolve Ring-based cervical external immobilization devices showed little or no heating and the artifacts were acceptable.

5. Harrop JS et al.  Cervical Myelopathy: A Clinical and Radiographic Evaluation and Correlation to Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy. Spine 2010;35:620–624.  Nice review of clinical signs.  No patients without cord compression showed myelopathy.  The likelihood of myelopathy increases with the presence of T2 cord signal hyperintensity.

6. Monti MM et al. Willful Modulation of Brain Activity in Disorders of Consciousness. N Engl J Med 2010;362:579-89. Of the 54 patients enrolled in the study, 5 were able to willfully modulate their brain activity demonstrated by fMRI.

7. Ropper AH. Cogito Ergo Sum by MRI. N Engl J Med 2010; Feb 18, 362;7. Editorial accompanying the N Engl J Med article above. (I think, therefore I am).The author reminds us of three important concepts: First, in this study, brain activation was detected in very few patients. Second, activation was found only in some patients with traumatic brain injury, not in patients with global ischemia and anoxia. Third, cortical activation does not provide evidence of an internal “stream of thought”, memory, self-awareness, reflection, synthesis of experience, symbolic representations, anxiety, despair, or awareness of one’s predicament.

8. Kase CS, Nguen TN.  The clinical conundrum of convexal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Neurology 2010;74:874–875.  Editorial. “Convexal” SAH is frequently encountered in clinical practice, and presents at times with acute headache suggestive of SAH, but often it is an unexpected finding on imaging in patients evaluated for a variety of symptoms, including change in mental status, transient focal neurologic deficits, or partial seizures.

9. Kumar S, Goddeau RP et al. Atraumatic convexal subarachnoid hemorrhage:  Clinical presentation, imaging patterns, and etiologies.  Neurology 2010;74:893–899. Reversible vasoconstriction syndrome appears to be a common cause in patients 60 years or younger whereas amyloid angiopathy is frequent in patients over 60.

10. Lovblad K, Baird AE.  Computed tomography in acute ischemic stroke. Neuroradiology (2010) 52:175–187.  Comprehensive review of use of CT imaging and perfusion.

11. Kleiser R, Staempfli P et al.  Impact of fMRI-guided advanced DTI fiber tracking techniques on their clinical applications in patients with brain tumors. Neuroradiology (2010) 52:37–46.  DTI scan can be acquired in a few more scan minutes in the same scan session in which all the other necessary images for the surgery are acquired (anatomical and fMRI data). The data processing is performed offline with dedicated software packages without involvement of the patient.

12. Bello L et al. Intraoperative use of diffusion tensor imaging fiber tractography and subcortical mapping for resection of gliomas: technical considerations. Neurosurg Focus 28 (2):E6, 2010.  Shows the potential usefulness of the routine combined use of DT imaging–FT and subcortical mapping, particularly in patients with low-grade gliomas. These tumors display an infiltrative modality of growth, along short and long connecting fibers, and visualizing the trajectory of the tracts is important for planning and performing surgery.

13. Verhoeven JS et al.  Neuroimaging of autism. Neuroradiology (2010) 52:3–14.  This is an area I have not paid much attention too, so it is convenient to have an all encompassing review available.

14. Chhabra V, Sung E et al.  Safety of magnetic resonance imaging of deep brain stimulator systems: a serial imaging and clinical retrospective study.  J Neurosurg 112:497–502, 2010.  This retrospective MR imaging–based study supports the safety of MR imaging in patients with implanted DBS systems.  Because the indications for DBS continue to expand, it is likely that postoperative MR imaging will remain an important clinical tool.

15. Richards PJ, George J et al. Spine Computed Tomography Doses and Cancer Induction. Spine Volume 35, Number 4, pp 430–433.  Risk ratio for inducing a cancer when CT scanning the whole lumbar spine was about 1 in 3200, which was much less than the risk of CTing the whole dorsal spine (about 1 in 1800) due to the longer coverage required and the anatomic implications of scanning in the region of the cervical dorsal junction.

16. Karppinen J, Solovieva S et al. Modic changes and interleukin 1 gene locus polymorphisms in occupational cohort of middle-aged men. Eur Spine J (2009) 18:1963–1970.  The pathomechanism of LBP due to Modic changes (MC) remains poorly understood. It has been hypothesized that MC is a result of a biomechanically induced inflammation around the intervertebral disc.  This inflammatory etiology is also supported by the finding of an increased number of tumor necrosis factor immunoreactive nerve cells and fibers in endplates with MC, especially in type I changes [30].   This paper shows an association between IL1A gene variation and type II MC replicates a previous finding from a different Finnish geographic area,  confirming the importance of the ILA gene in the pathophysiology of MC.

17. Kim D, Wadley R. Variability in Techniques and Patient Safety Protocols in Discography. Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques, 27 January 2010. To improve diagnostic validity and patient safety, the International Spine Intervention Society (ISIS) has published practice guidelines for performing discography (Bogduk N, ed. Practice Guidelines for Spinal Diagnostic and Treatment Procedures. San Francisco: International Spine Intervention Society; 2004:20–46).  The overall compliance with ISIS guidelines is fair to poor with the specialty rank order of compliance greatest to least as follows: Anesthesiology, PMR, and Radiology.

18. Kim HS, Chong HS et al. Vascular Injury in Thoracolumbar Spinal Surgeries and Role of Angiography in Early Diagnosis and Management. Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques, 27 January 2010. Of the total 8 arterial injury cases, only 1 of them occurred in the thoracic region and the rest all were seen in the lumbar spine.  Pseudoaneurysm formation in thoracic aorta was seen in 1 case of multiple vertebral fractures, segmental artery was found to be injured in 3 cases of osteotomy for deformities, 2 cases of aortic injury and 1 case of inferior mesenteric artery injury was seen in posterior lumbar interbody fusion. Common iliac artery and vein both were seen to be injured simultaneously in 1 case of lumbar discectomy.