ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the clinical effect of pedicle screw internal fixation with different surgical approach in the treatment of thoracolumbar vertebral fractures. Methods Fifty?three cases with thoracolumbar vertebral fracture without nerve injury were selected as our subjects,who were hospitalized in the Central Hospital of Chaoyang from January 2008 to December 2013. They were randomly divided into observation group(27 cases) and control group(26 cases). The patients in the observation group were treated with pedicle screw internal fixation with Wiltse paraspinal approach and the patients in the control group were treated with pedicle screw internal fixation with traditional posterior open approach. The duration of operation,intraoperative blood loss,volume of drainage and length of hospital stay of all patients were recorded and the ratio of anterior vertebral body height to normal height before and after operation was compared between the two groups. Visual analog scores( VAS) for pain severity and Cobb’ s angle of the vertebrae was compared between the two groups 1 year after operation. Results The duration of operation and length of hospital stay of patients in both groups had no statistically significant differences ( P>0. 05 ) . The intraoperative blood loss and volume of drainage in observation group were less than that in control group respectively((146. 3±25. 1) ml vs. (240. 2±28. 7) ml, (73.1±15.3) ml vs. (150.5±20.1) ml;P=0.034,0.023).The ratio of anterior vertebral body height to normal height 1 week after operation was higher than that before operation in the observation group ( ( 93. 1 ±5.1)% vs. (70.3±8.6)%,P=0.048) and in the control group((93.0±6.0)% vs. (71.8±9.8)%,P=0. 049),the difference between two group had no statistically significant(P>0. 05). The Cobb′s angle of the vertebrae 1 year after operation was less than that before operation in the observation group((10. 10±4. 00)° vs. (19. 10±7. 81)°,P=0. 045) and in the control group ((9. 97±3. 78)° vs. (18. 87±6. 90)°,P=0. 045),the difference between two group had no statistically significant(P>0. 05). The VAS for pain severity 1 year after operation was less than that before operation in the observation group(1. 1±0. 5 vs. 6. 0±0. 9,P=0. 023) and in the control group ( 1. 7 ± 0. 6 vs. 5. 9 ± 0. 7, P= 0. 038 ) , the difference between two group had statistically significant( P=0. 046) . Conclusion Pedicle screw internal fixation with Wiltse paraspinal approach in the treatment of thoracolumbar vertebral fractures without nerve injury has advantages with traditional posterior open approach in less trauma, less bleeding, rapid recovery and reduces the incidence of postoperative lumbar pain. The treatment has a good clinical effect and is worthy of clinical application.