ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the characteristics, surgical timing and treatment of middle super thoracic fractures. Methods 35 cases of middle super thoracic fractures (T1 10) were retrospectively reviewed. Among them, 25 cases were complete injury of the spinal cord and 10 cases were neurologically incomplete injury. The bleeding in operations at different times, the ASIA grades and the sensorimotor scores were analyzed. Results The follow up showed that the ASIA grade increased by 1 to 2 degrees in 10 cases of incomplete spinal cord injury, while in complete spinal cord injury the ASIA grades hardly increased but the sense and motion scores could be improved by about 20. Conclusions Middle super thoracic fractures often involve multi vertebra body, and the spinal cord is injured severely. Decompression, fusion, internal fixation from posterior approach can obtain a satisfactory result. Neurologically incomplete injury should be treated as soon as possible, while complete injury of the spinal cord should be treated around 2 weeks after the injury.