OBJECTIVE: The study evaluates patients affected by thoracolumbar fractures, and treated by posterior instrumentation and arthrodesis. A comparative analysis of two different fixation techniques using pedicle screw fixation associated with short and long instrumentation were carried out. METHODS: Patients evaluation were performed by pain scale (VAS, visual analog scale), functional scale (Oswestry) and by clinical and radiographic criteria. RESULT: It was observed 70.3% men and 29.7% women, with mean age of 43 years and average follow-up of 39 months. Most patients had Frankel E grade at the time of data collection (83.8%). The majority of patients had A3 (63.6%) fractures at L1 (51.4%). Short instrumentation was performed in 62.2% of cases. An average of 2.7 on the pain scale and 11.2 for the Owestry was obtained in the analysis. CONCLUSION: Evaluation of techniques did not present any statistically significance.
Spinal fractures; Thoracic vertebrae; Lumbar vertebrae; Arthrodesis; Spine
