Objective To compare the effectiveness of long- and short-segment posterior pedicle screw fixation for thoracolumbar fracture. Methods Between January 2007 and December 2009, 58 patients with AO type B thoracolumbar fracture underwent posterior pedicle screw fixation. Of 58 patients, 36 received short-segment pedicle fixation (1 upper and 1 lower vertebral bodies of the fractured vertebral body) in group A, and 22 received long-segment pedicle fixation (2 upper and 2 lower vertebral bodies of the fractured vertebral body) in group B. There was no significant difference in age, gender, injury cause, fracture site, preoperative Frankel grade, and disease duration between 2 groups (P gt; 0.05). The operation time, blood loss, complication, anterior vertebra compression rate (AVCR), and Cobb angle were compared between 2 groups. Frankel grade was used to evaluate the neurological function. Results The operation time and blood loss of group B were significantly higher than those of group A (P lt; 0.05). All incisions obtained primary healing. The patients were followed up 17.2 months on average (range, 12-32 months). No complication occurred in the other patients except 1 case having internal fixation failure and 1 case having aggravated kyphosis deformity in group A. The neurological function recovered in a certain degree; Frankel grade at 3 months was significantly improved when compared with preoperative one (P lt; 0.05) in 2 groups, but no significant difference was found between 2 groups (Z=0.09, P=0.36). The AVCR and Cobb angle were significantly lower in 2 groups at immediately after operation and last follow-up than those before operation (P lt; 0.05). The correction rates of AVCR and Cobb angle in group B were significantly higher than those in group A (P lt; 0.05); whereas the correction losses of AVCR and Cobb angle in group B were significantly less than those in group A (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion Long-segment pedicle screw fixation is better than short-segment pedicle screw fixation in the correction of kyphosis and recovery of vertebra body height, especially in the prevention of correction loss in long-term follow-up although it will increase the blood loss and operation time.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy of at the fracture level (AFL) versus cross the fracture level (CFL) short-segment pedicle screw fixation for thoracolumbar fractures. MethodsWe electronically search PubMed, The Cochrane Library (Issue 8, 2015), EMbase, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang data to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of AFL versus CFL short segment pedicle screw fixation for thoracolumbar fractures from inception to Aug. 2015. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 11 RCTs involving 730 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis indicated that: compared with the CFL group, the AFL group had more blood loss (MD=9.8, 95%CI 7.40 to 12.20), less implant failure rate (RR=0.19, 95%CI 0.07 to 0.48), lower long term postoperative VAS score of thoracolumbar pain (MD=-1.20, 95%CI -1.85 to -0.56), higher correction in short term postoperative kyphotic Cobb angle (MD=3.56, 95%CI 2.25 to 4.87), smaller value in long term postoperative kyphotic Cobb angle and its loss of correction (MD=-3.95, 95%CI -7.78 to -0.12; MD=-4.65, 95%CI -6.91 to -2.40), smaller degree of anterior vertebral height compression in short and long term postoperative (MD=-3.51, 95%CI -5.23 to -1.80; MD=-8.28, 95%CI -12.22 to -4.33), better result in long term postoperative anterior vertebral height and its loss of correction (MD=8.00, 95%CI 3.85 to 12.15; MD=-6.06, 95%CI -7.68 to -4.44). There were no significant differences between two groups regarding operation time, infectious complications and short term postoperative kyphotic Cobb angle (MD=0.11, 95%CI -5.36 to 5.57; RR=0.55, 95%CI 0.11 to 2.85; MD=-0.66, 95%CI -2.19 to 0.87). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that AFL short-segment pedicle screw fixation for thoracolumbar fractures is superior to CFL fixation. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.