Does neurological recovery in thoracolumbar and lumbar burst fractures depend on the extent of canal compromise?

Abstract

Prospective study. Forty-five consecutive cases of thoracolumbar and lumbar burst fractures treated non-operatively were analyzed to correlate the extent of canal compromise at the time of injury with (i) the initial neurologic deficit and (ii) with the extent of neurological recovery at 1 year. The effect of spinal canal remodeling on neurological recovery was also analyzed. University teaching hospital in south India. The degree of spinal canal compromise and canal remodeling were assessed from computed tomography scans. The neurologic status was assessed by Frankel's grading. The mean canal compromise in patients with neurologic deficit was 46.2% while in patients with no neurological deficit it was 36.3%. The mean spinal canal compromise in patients with neurological recovery was 46.1% and 48.4% in those with no recovery. The amount of canal remodeling in patients who recovered was 51.7% and 46.1% in the patients who did not recover. None of these differences was statistically significant. This study shows that there is no correlation between the neurologic deficit and subsequent recovery with the extent of spinal canal compromise in thoracolumbar burst fractures.