Vialle LR, ed. Cheung KMC, Lenke LG, guest eds. AOSpine Masters Series. Adult Spinal Deformities. Vol 4. Thieme; 2015; 164 pp; 92 ill; $99.99
The newest volume of the AOSpine Masters Series is concerned with adult spinal deformities. It is guest edited by Dr. Lenke (an orthopedic surgeon from Washington University) and Dr. Cheung (an orthopedic surgeon from Hong Kong), and has 24 contributing authors.
There are 11 chapters:
- Preoperative Evaluation
- Decision Making in Adult Deformity Surgery
- Osteotomies in Spine Deformities
- Sacral-Pelvic Fixation
- Instrumentation in the Osteoporotic Spine
- Neurologic Complications
- Postoperative Coronal Decompression
- Outcomes and Values
- Junctional Issues in Deformity Surgery
- Biomechanics and Material Science
- Pseudarthrosis and Infection
As neuroradiologists we constantly evaluate postoperative spine imaging, particularly in those patients who have had instrumentation. It is important to have a concept of what clinicians find critical and what they analyze, pre- and postoperatively. There are specific measurements and concepts described that can be used in daily practice, including slippage/slip angle, sagittal imbalance/coronal balance/measurements, Cobb angles criteria for short vs. long fusions, types of osteotonies, sacral-pelvic fixation, screw augmentation, prophylactic vertebroplasty, and the like. Of particular interest to radiologists would be the material related to junctional problems (like ALD or junctional kyphosis) and pseudarthrosis/infection.
There are some areas of unusual wording like stating “L5-S1 was well hydrated”, and greater attention could have been paid to the windowing of many of the images. It is also of some interest that this volume is concerned with the lumbar and thoracic spine only. As is common in most texts, each chapter ends with “Pearls” and “Pitfalls”.
While this is not a purchase that would interest most radiologists, the volume probably would be found in most spine surgery libraries, and key areas in it could be quickly reviewed by those who deal with a large spine surgery service.
