Treatment of Vertebral Fractures with Long Instrumentation Short Fusion Technique

Abstract

In this study, the results of thoracolumbar vertebral burst fractures that were treated with Harrington instrumentation combined with a short posterolateral fusion will be presented. Harrington instrumentation for vertebral fractures was used commonly in our clinic before the use of transpedicular fixation systems. With dual contoured Harrington rods, the fractures were easily and accurately reduced. The major disadvantage of this technique was a long level fision that disables the patient in his future life. With the reports introducing rod long - fuse short idea; in our clinic, some patients with vertebral fractures were treated according to this technique. There were twenty patients in our study group: 15 male and 5 female. Their mean age is 41.6 years, ranging between 17 and 65 years. A mean of 5.4 vertebrae were spanned with the rod but a mean of 3.5 vertebrae were included in the arthrodesis. The instruments were removed between the postoperative 7 months and 18 months. In the follow - up, it was noted that, most of the physiologic movements of the spine was spared in the non - fused vertebrae. It was also noted that, the movements are in correlation with early rod removal.