Unilateral atlantoaxial pedicle screw fixation plus structural iliac bone graft for treatment of unstable atlas fractures / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of unilateral atlanto-axial transpedicle screw fixation plus iliac bone graft for treatment of unstable atlas fractures combined with unilateral pedicle dysplasia or comminuted fractures.Methods A retrospective case control study was made on 44 patients with unstable atlas fractures surgically treated between January 2012 to June 2016.Unilateral atlanto-axial transpedicle screw fixation combined with iliac bone graft was performed for 22 patients combined with unilateral pedicle dysplasia or comminuted fractures in Group A[15 males,seven females;(37.5 ± 13.4)years],and bilateral atlanto-axial transpedicle screw fixation combined with iliac bone graft was performed for 22 patients without unilateral pedicle dysplasia or comminuted fractures in Group B [14 males,eight females;(38.1 ± 13.3)years].Between-group differences were compared concerning operation time,intraoperative blood loss,length of hospital stay,success rate of screw placement,postoperative atlantoaxial stability,surgery-related complications,visual analog scale (VAS),Japanese orthopedic association score (JOA) and bone fusion.Results Mean duration of follow-up was 28.4 months (range,14-48 months).In Group A,operation time was (123.4 ± 18.2) min,blood loss was (218.5 ± 80.2) ml,hospital stay was (7.1 ± 1.0)d,success rate of screw placement was 100％,postoperative atlanto-axial stability of all patients was obtained,and no complications occurred.In Group B,operation time was (173.4 ± 12.4) min,blood loss was (318.2 ± 61.7) ml,hospital stay was (7.2 ± 0.8) d,success rate of screw placement was 100％,postoperative atlanto-axial stability of all patients was obtained,and no complications occurred.There were significant differences in operation time and blood loss between the two groups (P ＜0.01),while not in hospital stay,success rate,postoperative atlant-oaxial stability,complication incidence,VAS and JOA (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Both treatments are effective,but unilateral atlanto-axial transpedicle screw fixation combined with iliac bone graft is associated with relatively shorter operation time and less blood loss and hence is considered as a better choice for treatment of unstable atlas fractures.