Abstract:

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of posterior pedicle screw fixation with long segment，short segment transinjured vertebrae and short segment transinjured vertebrae for type A thoracolumbar fractures. Methods Seventy⁃three patients with type A thoracolumbar fractures from July 2011 to July 2021 were selected and treated by long⁃level fixation（Group A，n = 28），short⁃level through fractured verte⁃ brae fixation（Group B，n = 24），and short⁃level across fractured vertebrae fixation（Group C，n = 21）respectively. Evaluation indexes included operation time，intraoperative blood loss，VAS scores，ODI，Cobb angles，anterior height ratios of fractured vertebrae，and Pearce classification. Results The average follow ⁃ up duration was 18.9 months. Back pain，functional performance，Cobb angles，and anterior height ratios of fractured vertebrae were efficiently improved after surgery（P < 0.05）. But there was no significant differencein VAS scores，ODI，and Pearce classification among the three groups（P > 0.05）. There were significant differences in terms of operation time and intraoperative blood loss between group A and group B and C（P < 0.05）. In addition，although Cobb angles and an⁃ terior height ratios of fractured vertebrae were significant corrected at one⁃year post⁃operative，the loss of correction in group C was significant larger when compared with that in group A and B（P < 0.05）. Conclusions Compared with long⁃level fixation，short⁃level fixation has an advantage of less operation⁃related trauma. Moreover，short⁃level through fractured vertebrae fixation also leads to as good long⁃term correction of deformity as long⁃level fixation.

Key words:

thoracolumbar fracture, posterior pedicle screw fixation, long?level fixation, short?level through fractured vertebrae fixation, short?level across fractured vertebrae fixation