[Splenic injury as complication of thoracoscopic-assisted ventral stabilisation of thoracolumbar vertebral body fractures - report of two cases].

Minimally invasive procedures for additive ventral stabilisation of dorsal instrumented unstable burst fractures of the thoracolumbar spine have been developed. Typical complications of these standardised techniques have been described in the past. Only limited data exist on injury to upper abdominal organs associated with minimally invasive spondylodesis. We report two cases of splenic injury after thoracoscopic-assisted ventral stabilisation of incomplete burst fractures. Retraction of the diaphragm might be the main factor causing this complication. In conclusion, splenic injury is a rare but potentially lethal complication in the operative treatment of thoracolumbar fractures. Therefore postoperative abdominal sonography should routinely be done and in case of haemodynamic instability the possibility of splenic injury must be considered as part of the differential diagnosis.