Surgical treatment in thoraco-lumbar region fractures.

• Main Authors: Jorge Alberto Jerez Labrada, Dania Zúñiga Estrada, Yoan Manuel Quiñones González, Francisco José Lam González
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Centro Provincial de Información de Ciencias Médicas. Cienfuegos 2008-08-01
• Series: Medisur
• Subjects: fracturas (cirug); columna vertebral
• Online Access: http://www.medisur.sld.cu/index.php/medisur/article/view/537

<strong>Background:</strong> thoraco-lumbar fractures may affect people at any moment of their lives, especially at their most fruitful and useful stage. Its correct diagnosis and treatment may directly influence in the posterior evolution of the patients. <strong><br />Objectives:</strong> to evaluate the results of the surgical treatment in thoraco-lumbar region fractures. <strong><br />Methods:</strong> a descriptive retrospective correlational study of series cases which included 54 patients attended due to thoraco-lumbar region fractures in the University Hospital “Dr. Gustavo Aldereguía Lima” in Cienfuegos city, Cuba from January 1999 to June 2007. Age, sex, etiology of the fracture, type and level of the fractures, associated diseases, surgical techniques used for, pre and post operatory neurological damage, usage of metilprednisolone, complications and final results were the variables taken into consideration in this study. <strong><br />Results:</strong> most of the patients belonged to male sex under the age of 45. The totality of the cases had type IV fracture, and a great part of them had Denis type II fracture having surgical treatment. The causes of the lesions were traffic accidents, working accidents and height falls. The most useful surgical techniques were posterior decompression, instrumentation and fusion. Surgery improved the neurological damage in almost half of sick patients with this condition. Complications were minimum and rupture of the implant was predominant. <br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> surgical treatment in thoraco-lumbar region fractures had satisfactory results in our milieu. <br />