The study on correlation between intrusion of nucleus gelatinosus into vertebral body and low back pain after thoracolumbar fractures / 中华外科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the correlation between intrusion of nucleus gelatinosus into vertebral body and low back pain after thoracolumbar fractures.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and two patients who were treated in Peking university third hospital from January 2005 to September 2007 were evaluated retrospectively and included into this study. They were followed up for an average of 18 months and complete data were kept. Fifty-four patients were treated operatively and forty-eight patients were treated conservatively. VAS questionnaire was applied to evaluate the low back pain. Spearman Correlation Coefficients module and Wilcoxon 2-Sample Test module of SAS software were used to analyze the relation between intrusion of nucleus gelatinosus, different treatments, kyphotic Cobb angles and VAS.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were strong correlations between intrusion of nucleus gelatinosus and VAS in both operative group, P < 0.01 and non-operative group, P < 0.01; there were poor correlations between different treatments and VAS in both intrusion group, P > 0.05 and non-intrusion group, P > 0.05; and there were also poor correlations between Cobb angles and VAS, gamma = 0.2584, P > 0.05.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There is correlation between the intrusion of nucleus gelatinosus into vertebral body and the low back pain after thoracolumbar fractures.</p>