Authors have treated 16 cases of the unstable injuries of the thoracolumbar spine(D,1 to L,) during the period from April, 1971 to July 1974.
The results obtained were as follows.
1. In classification of our materials according to Holdsworth and Kelly, the cases of rotational fracture dislocations were 9. shearing fractures Z, and unstable bursting fractures 5 11 cases (69%) were associated by neural deficit and mostly (64%) were caused by rotational fracture-dislocation.
2. Out of neural deficit cases, 6 had complete cord and root lesion, 4 complete cord and partial root lesion, 1 incomplete cord lesion only. In all these the function of the roots improved in 6 cases, but that of cord did nod.
3. Spontaneous interbody fusion within 6 months after injury occured in 11 cases, 9 cases of them were fused within 4 months.
4. 4 cases treated with early open reduction with plate fixation had better neural decompression than laminectomy andradvantages in the avoidance of complications after injury.
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