ABSTRACT

Thoracolumbar and lumbar fractures treated with surgical methods aim to decompress the spinal cord and correct the deformity. We aimed to compare the the effects of anterior, posterior and anterior-posterior surgery on the local kyphosis angle in thoracolumbar and lumbar vertebral fractures.

Thoracolumbar and lumbar, burst or compression fractured and surgically treated 62 patients were evaluated retrospectively. Preoperative, postoperative and follow-up local kyphosis angles were measured on the X-rays and changes in these angles were compared according to the applied surgical treatment methods.

Early application of surgical treatment following trauma decreases the correction loss suffered after surgery. The increase in correction loss continues after removal of the hardware. It is observed that laminectomy applied in the course of posterior surgical interventions has no effect on the correction loss. The length of the implantation, fusion and the addition of a hook to the lamina of the vertebra which is located one segment lower than the transpedicular screw applied vertebra do not affect the loss of correction.

In the surgical treatment of thoracolumbar and lumbar vertebral fractures, different degrees of correction loss are observed after each surgical treatment modality. Considering the corrective effect of combined anterior-posterior surgery on the correction of kyphotic derformity due to trauma and the preoperative local kyphosis angle, follow-up correction achievement is higher when compared with anterior and posterior surgical approaches.