Abstract

GUEDES CONSUEGRA, Mario Lázaro; HERNANDEZ GONZALEZ, Erick; GUERRA PRADA, Hermen Agustín  and  RODRIGUEZ MARTINEZ, Silvino. Characterization of thoracolumbar fractures with neurological damage. AMC [online]. 2017, vol.21, n.5, pp.621-630. ISSN 1025-0255.

Background: the most frequent spinal fractures involve the thoracolumbar region with the 90 percent of all spinals fractures. The majority of these injuries occur between T11 to L2 levels that are weak to the stress from the biomechanical point of view. Objective: to characterize patients with thoracolumbar spinal fractures with neurological damage. Methods: a descriptive, retrospective and longitudinal study was conducted in 42 patients with fractures and spinal cord injuries assisted in the Orthopaedic and Traumatology service of Manuel Ascunce Domenech hospital in Camagüey from January 2000 to December 2015. Results: in our study male sex and the 36 to 50 age group were the most frequently affected, the imaging investigations showed that between T10 and L2 was the most affected level. High falls was the most presented cause, the calcaneal fractures were the most founded associated trauma. The pulmonary thromboembolism was the most observed complication and the neurological improvement was evident in mostly all the patients. Conclusions: the treatment to the patients with thoracolumbar spinal fractures with neurological damage is a challenge that requires team management and the surgical decompression of the neural element is the best choice.

Keywords : SPINAL FRACTURES; DECOMPRESSION, SURGICAL; NEUROLOGICAL REHABILITATION; SPINAL INJURIES; EPIDEMIOLOGY, DESCRIPTIVE.

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