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Degenerative Spine Disease

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Brain and Spine Surgery in the Elderly

Abstract

Degenerative spine disease in patients older than 65 years becomes more and more an issue of interest in daily routine. The following chapter resumes pathogenesis and clinical and radiological aspects. We present possible therapeutic approaches including cervical and lumbar pathologies against the background of the actual scientific data.

Diagnosis and treatment of degenerative alteration of the spine in elderly patients are challenging for comorbidities, often mask the clinical picture, and hinder therapeutic efforts.

The diagnostic cascade is based on the clinical examination followed by targeted radiological procedures. Concerning therapy, medical and surgical options exist, but scientifically based guidelines focusing on elderly patients are barely available. Thus, the treatment decision has to be taken considering the symptoms and the comorbidities of the individual patient.

In cases of disabling neurological deficits or a failure of medical treatment, surgery is indicated even in elderly patients. But factors like reduced bone quality and a reduced physical and mental state have to be included into the treatment concept. One has to bear in mind that the success of medical and even surgical measures is sometimes hard to predict, and the complication rate is still high.

Further studies with a special focus on elderly people are necessary to define the value of nonsurgical and surgical approaches and to improve the scientific base for a topic that will become one of the most important problems for our profession in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Städtisches Klinikum Brandenburg GmbH, Hochtstr. 29, 14770, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany

    Christian Ewald & Albrecht Waschke

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  1. Christian Ewald
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  2. Albrecht Waschke
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Correspondence to Christian Ewald .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital of Lyon, Lyon, France

    Moncef Berhouma

  2. Hôpital des Charpennes, Hospices civils de Lyon, Villeurbanne, France

    Pierre Krolak-Salmon

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Ewald, C., Waschke, A. (2017). Degenerative Spine Disease. In: Berhouma, M., Krolak-Salmon, P. (eds) Brain and Spine Surgery in the Elderly. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40232-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40232-1_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40231-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40232-1

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