Traumatic dorso lumbar spine fractures and its management

Hekmat Al Dahhan, Musaed

	Traumatic dorso lumbar spine fractures and its management
Al-Qadisiah Medical Journal
Article 1, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 220-231 PDF (0 K)
Author
Musaed Hekmat Al Dahhan
Abstract
The dorsolumbar segment is an unstable zone between fixed dorsal and mobile spine. The posterior approach with interpedicular screws and rods for segment stabilization was found appropriate method. Forty eight consecutive patients of dorso-lumbar spine injuries with or without neurological deficit ranged from 18-55 years were included in this study. LI vertebra was fractured in 32 cases, D12 in 12 cases l 1 in 3 cases and D10 in one case.21 patients presented with unstable fractures, 12 of them presented with complete paraplegia while 9 presented with incomplete neurological deficit. 16 patients with stable fractures treated conservatively while 32 patients treated surgically by decompression of the cord (Laminectomy) at the site of injury with stabilization by interpedicular screws and rods. All sixteen patients without neurological deficit and stable fractures treated conservatively and return to the work within 3 weeks of injury, 9 patients presented with partial neurological deficit showed significant improvement after surgery, while those 12 patients who presented with complete paraplegia showed no any significant improvement. The anterior wedge compression angle decreased postoperatively and there is improvement in kyphosis and decrease in severity of the pain. Transpedicular screws fixation with rods is the method of choice in treatment of dorsolumbar spine injury for stabilization and decompression to allow improvement of neurological deficit and early rehabilitation.
Keywords
Pedicular screws; Dorsolumbar spine fractures; posterior fixation; Neurological deficit

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