Cervico-dorsal junction spinal injuries [posterior interspinous compression wiring and fusion]

ABSTRACT

A technique of posterior cervicodorsal interspinous compression wiring and fusion, which offers a significant immediate stability, was presented. Its efficacy in 16 consecutive cases of post-traumatic unstability at the cervicodorsal junction illustrated its utility. The technique involves the passage of an interspinous cerclage wire. Rather than the placement of onlay laminar and facet grafts, a split- thickness tricortical iliac-crest graft was compressed against the involved medial laminae and spinous processes bilaterally. The technique appears to immediately provide a very stable construct, in addition it proved to be a simple and straightforward procedure for the treatment of the unstable cervicodorsal fracture, which may be difficult sometimes to be approached interiorly