Effect of the long percutaneous U-shaped hollow pedicle screw systems for thoracolumbar fracture

English Keywords:Long U-shaped hollow pedicle screw systems  Percutaneous transpedicular  Internal fixation method  Thoracolumbar fracture

English Abstract:

  【Abstract】 Objectives: To evaluate the surgical outcome of long percutaneous U-shaped hollow pedicle screw systems for thoracolumbar fractures. Methods: 80 cases suffering from unstable thoracolumbar fractures while without obvious neurologic deficits from January 2009 to August 2010 were reviewed retrospectively. All cases were divided into two groups: group A (long percutaneous U-shaped hollow pedicle screw systems), group B (conventional transpedicular pedicle screw systems). The skin incision length, operative time, intraoperative and postoperative blood loss, anterior vertebral body height, sagittal Cobb angle, narrowing rate of vertebral canal, the screw position, and back pain before and 3、6、12 months after operation between two groups were compared. Results: In group A, the operative time was 90.18±17.39min, intraoperative blood loss was 81.25±8.67ml, postoperative blood loss was 6.60±1.64 ml and the total length of skin incision was 6.86±0.6cm; while in group B, the data were 116.95±16.18min, 315.70±72ml, 224.48±30.18ml and 13.53±1.48cm respectively, which showed significant difference between two groups(P<0.05). The postoperative anterior vertebral body height in group A was 93.83±4.20％, the Cobb angle was 4.28±1.08°，the narrowing rate of vertebral canal was 3.49±3.27％ and a total of 96.25％ screws were in good position; while in group B, which were 94.31±3.12％，3.95±0.97°，3.27±3.03％ and 97.50％respectively, which showed no significant difference between two groups(P＞0.05). No significant difference existed with respect to image finding between two groups(Ｐ＞0.05). Conclusions: Long percutaneous U-shaped hollow pedicle screw system is reliable with minimal invasiveness, which is comparable to the conventional pedicle screw instrument.