Transpedicular bone grafting and pedicle screw fixation in injured vertebrae using a paraspinal approach for thoracolumb

  • PDF / 914,063 Bytes
  • 6 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
  • 46 Downloads / 175 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT


RESEARCH ARTICLE

Open Access

Transpedicular bone grafting and pedicle screw fixation in injured vertebrae using a paraspinal approach for thoracolumbar fractures: a retrospective study Qinliang Li, Cai Yun* and Shichun Li

Abstract Background: Complications in posterior pedicle screw fixation using a conventional posterior approach for thoracolumbar fractures include vertebral height loss, kyphosis relapse and breakage, or loosening of instrumentation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical effects of transpedicular bone grafting and pedicle screw fixation in injured vertebrae using a paraspinal approach for thoracolumbar fractures. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 50 patients with thoracolumbar fractures treated with transpedicular bone grafting and pedicle screw fixation in injured vertebrae using a paraspinal approach. Operative time, blood loss, visual analog scale (VAS) scores for back pain, and the relative height and Cobb angle of the fractured vertebrae were measured. Results: The average operative time was 71.8 min, and the blood loss was 155 ml. Postoperative VAS scores were significantly lower than preoperative scores (P = 0.08), but there was no difference between 1 week and 1 year postoperatively (P = 0.18). The postoperative relative heights of the fractured vertebrae were higher than the preoperative heights (P = 0.001, 0.005, 0.001), but there were no differences between 1 week and 1 or 2 years postoperatively (P = 0.24/0.16). The postoperative Cobb angles were larger than the preoperative angles (P = 0.002, 0. 007, 0.001), but there were no differences between 1 week and 1 or 2 years postoperatively (P = 0.19/0.23). Conclusions: Transpedicular bone grafting and pedicle screw fixation in injured vertebrae using a paraspinal approach for thoracolumbar fractures achieved satisfactory results and can restore vertebral height, increase the stability of the anterior and middle columns of injured vertebrae, and decrease the risk of back pain. Keywords: Thoracolumbar fractures, Injured vertebrae, Bone graft, Fixation, Paraspinal approach

Background Posterior pedicle screw fixation using a conventional posterior approach is widely used for thoracolumbar fractures [1, 2] and includes pedicle screw fixation one vertebra above and one vertebra below the fracture. However, the incidence of vertebral height loss, kyphosis relapse and breakage, or loosening of instrumentation is high [3, 4]. Moreover, degeneration of the back muscles was found in patients who underwent a conventional posterior approach [5, 6], and most patients had persistent back pain * Correspondence: [email protected] Department of Orthopaedic, Shijingshan Teaching Hospital of Capital Medical University, Shijingshan Hospital of Beijing City, Beijing 100043, China

[7]. Recently, studies have shown that screw implantation in the injured vertebra exhibits stronger fixation, and more effectively prevents loosening or breakage of instrumentation, compared with traditional four-screw cross-segmental fixation [8, 9]. Transpedi