[Decompression and internal fixation in the treatment of thoracolumbar spine and spinal cord injury: report of 166 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of several internal fixation methods in the surgical treatment of thoracolumbar spine and spinal cord injury (SSI-TL). METHODS: In the 166 SSI-TL cases included in this retrospective analysis, 37 had vertebral body burst fracture, 109 had vertebral body compression fracture (with compression to a degree over 50%),14 had vertebral body fracture and dislocation and 6 had multilevel vertebral fractures or jumping fracture. In view of the spinal cord injury 59 belonged to Frankel grade A, 46 grade B, 42 grade C and 19 grade D. Posterior decompression, reduction and internal fixation were performed in 122 patients and the other 44 underwent anterior decompression, reduction and ilium bone grafting. RESULTS: Follow-up study for 3 to 18 month was conducted in 123 cases, in which RF screws cracking occurred in 4 cases, Harrington upper hook dislocation in 5 cases and Harrington rod cracking in 6, while the rest cases were free of theses incidents. In terms of the function recovery of the spinal cord, 88 cases showed improvement of the spinal cord and cauda equina of 1 to 3 Frankel grades, leaving only 35 lingering in grade A. CONCLUSION: Decompression should be performed at early stages of SSI-TL, and employment of various internal fixation instrument helps maintain and enhance spinal stability, preventing secondary lesion of the spinal cord and promoting the function recovery of the injured spinal cord.