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Coffin-Lowry syndrome (CLS) is a rare X-linked disorder marked by intellectual disability, craniofacial and skeletal anomalies, and progressive spinal deformities like scoliosis and hyperlordosis. Corrective posterior spinal fusion (PSF) surgery is often required. Mesocardia, a congenital anomaly where the heart is positioned centrally in the thorax, may affect perioperative hemodynamics, particularly in the prone surgical position. This report presents a case illustrating the perioperative challenges of PSF in a patient with both CLS and mesocardia.

A 17-year-old male with CLS, mesocardia, and severe scoliosis underwent PSF (T2-S2). During prone positioning, the patient experienced a gradual hemodynamic collapse, characterized by a decrease in oxygen saturation and a marked drop in both pulse rate and blood pressure. Repositioning to the supine position led to immediate recovery. Imaging ruled out pulmonary or vascular obstruction, pneumothorax, and embolism. The event was attributed to mechanical cardiac compression related to syndromic soft tissue laxity, thoracic deformity, mesocardia, and posterior soft-tissue release. Surgery was completed using a modified lateral oblique prone position, maintaining hemodynamic stability.

This case illustrates the importance of anticipating cardiopulmonary compromise due to anatomical and positional factors and that personalized surgical planning and modified positioning can be crucial in complex spinal deformity surgery in syndromic patients with thoracic abnormalities.

A cross-sectional study to investigate regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with chronic whiplash syndrome and chronic neck pain patients without previous history of trauma along with a healthy control group. Chronic neck pain is a common disorder and a history of cervical spine injury including whiplash trauma constitute a risk factor for persistent neck pain. The aetiology of the late whiplash syndrome is unknown with no specific diagnostic criteria based on imaging, physiological, or psychological examination. Earlier studies indicate a parieto-occipital hypoperfusion but it is unclear if the hypoperfusion represents a response to chronic pain. The rCBF was monitored in 45 patients with chronic neck pain: 27 cases with chronic whiplash syndrome and 18 age and gender matched cases with non-traumatic chronic neck pain. The rCBF was estimated with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (HMPAO). The non-traumatic patients displayed rCBF changes in comparison with the whiplash group and the healthy control group. These changes included rCBF decreases in a right temporal region close to hippocampus, and increased rCBF in left insula. The whiplash group displayed no significant differences in rCBF in comparison with the healthy controls. The present study suggests different pain mechanisms in patients with chronic neck pain of non-traumatic origin compared to those with chronic neck pain due to a whiplash trauma.

The two northernmost counties in Sweden form together 1 of the 39 collaborating centers in the World Health Organization (WHO) MONICA (MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease) project. At the last survey in 1999, we added some questions about cervical spine complaints. Persons randomly selected from the population in a geographically well-defined area completed a self-administered questionnaire. The sample included 8,356 subjects and 6,000 (72%) of them answered. 43% of the population reported neck pain, more women (48%) than men (38%). Women of working age had more neck pain than older ones, a phenomenon not seen among men. Chronic neck pain, defined as continuous pain of more than 6 months' duration, was commoner in women (22%) than men (16%).More than one fourth of the cases with chronic symptoms had a history of neck or head trauma and one third of these had sustained a whiplash type of injury. Thus, all types of neck trauma seem to be associated with chronic neck pain.