Is sagittal balance more than just alignment : why PJK remains an unresolved problem?
PJK is an important contributing factor to the substantial and unsustainable rate of revision surgery following adult deformity correction. Multiple efforts to avoid PJK via alterations in surgical technique have been largely unsuccessful. This study suggests that non-mechanical neuromuscular co-morbidities play an important role in post-operative sagittal imbalance and PJK. Recognizing the multi-factorial etiology of PJK may lead to more successful strategies to avoid PJK and improve surgical outcomes.
The current study indicates that founder BRCA1 mutations reported in Polish breast/ovarian cancer patients do not contribute to increased GC risk. The nine tested recurrent BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations were not detected in GC patients which may suggests that they are rare in GC patients in the Polish population. Further analyses, including sequencing of entire sequences of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, are necessary to ultimately determine the role of these two genes in GC in Poland.