The neurological characteristic of patients with fractures of thoracolumbar junction presenting in Timisoara County Clinical Emergency Hospital's Emergency Unit.

OBJECTIVE

The current study aims to find the neurological characteristic of thoracolumbar junction fractures as well as the impact of a proper initial neurological assessment onto the treatment management of patients admitted into Timisoara County Clinical Emergency Hospital's Emergency Unit.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

This is a retrospective study based on patients with thoracolumbar fractures between 2004 and 2009. Age, sex, cause and level of injury, fracture pattern and distribution, and neurological presentation of patients were studied.

RESULTS

There were 605 patients with predominance of men (59.17 %); the mean age was 32.4 years old. The main cause of the fractures was represented by car accidents (56.2 %), and associated trauma was found in 38.51 % of the patients. The majority of the patients presented with incomplete neurological deficit (45.62 %), whilst 20.66 % suffered from complete neurological deficit.

CONCLUSION

We found a correlation between the fracture level and the neurological deficit, the grade of neurological motor deficit and anal sphincter disorder and stenosis grade in relation to neurological lesions.