Assessment of corelation between spinal canal shape and spinal cord injury in thoracolumbar spine fractures

Abstract

Traumatic spinal cord injury is one of the important causes of disability.in some of vertebral fractures,spinal canal is deformed and compromised.the relationship between the shape of the cervical canal and spinal cord hnjury has been proved but such a correlation for thoraculombar spine 50 patients with compromised canal(cases) and 50 oatients with intact canal were evaluated in the light of spinal canal shape(using CT scan),neurological defects(using Frankle classification),mechanism of trauma and level of the spinal fracture.of the 100 patients studied ,23 had spinal cord injury and most of injuries were at T12-L2. the most common mechanisms of trauma were road traffic accident and fall.the diference in age,sex and mechanism of trouma between the two grops was not statistically signifacant.No significant difference was found between canal intact group and canal compromised group in necruachment is more important than static canal compromise.