A case report of neurologically unstable fracture of the lumbosacral spine in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis.

INTRODUCTION

Fracture/dislocation is uncommonly reported in ankylosing spondylitis involving the lumbosacral spine.

CLINICAL PICTURE: We report an 18-month follow-up of a case of neurologically unstable traumatic fracture of the lumbosacral spine in ankylosing spondylitis.

TREATMENT/OUTCOME: Posterior decompression, alar-transverse fusion and instrumentation were performed. Anterior diskectomy and fusion were done 6 weeks later. There was solid bony fusion on follow-up and the patient had improvement of 2 Frankel grades and was able to ambulate.

CONCLUSION

Combined approaches and longer fixations to stabilise the spine may be required. In the lumbosacral spine, this poses a problem vis-à-vis limited levels of fixation in the sacrum.