Abstract: Objective To evaluate the indications,clinical outcome of the treatment of thoracolumbar spine fracture with posterior transpedicular instrumentation.Methods 17 patients with thoracolumbar spine fractures underwent the surgical procedure of posterior monosegmental fixation and arthrodesis.Follow-up investigation ranged from 6～27 months(mean: 17.5),patients were assessed by clinical evaluation and radiographic study.The parameters used for clinical evaluation were the Denis pain scale and neurological evaluation by the Frankel scale.The height of the injured vertebra,kyphosis of the injured vertebral segment,and the presence of bone reabsorption around the implant were used for radiographic evaluation.Results Clinical evaluation revealed that 12 cases had no pain,5 cases with occasional pain but no medication and all patients had a high level of satisfaction with the final results.Radiographic evaluation revealed reduction rate of the injured vertebral height was 96%,and the reduction loss rate was 1.4% at final follower-up.There was no implant break,and no signs of pseudoarthrosis were observed in any patient.Conclusion The clinical and radiographic results observed show that posterior monosegmental fixation might be an adequate and effective procedure to be used in specific types of thoracolumbar spine fractures.

Key words: thoracolumbar fractures, pedical fixation, monosegmental fixation, spinal trauma