title: Two different surgery approaches for treatment of thoracolumbar fracture.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of pedicle screw fixation for treatment of thoracolumbar fracture via Wiltse paraspinal approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  From June 2009 to June 2012, we enrolled into our study 53 cases of thoracolumbar fractures (single segment compressive or burst fractures) without neurologic injury, among whom 28 were treated by mini-open operation via Wiltse approach (group A) and 25 by conventional posterior open surgery (group B). We recorded and compared the intraoperative and postoperative performance between the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no serious complications occurring during our study, such as infection, blood vessel injury, spinal cord or nerve root injury. We did not find any statistically difference between the two groups in corrected rate of Cobb's angle or vertebral body height (P>0.05). However, the mini-open method had apparent advantages over the conventional open method in operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative drainage, and postoperative improvement on visual analog scale (VAS) scores at 3 days, 1 month, and 6 months after operation (P<0.05). After 9-24-month follow-up, the number of patients with low back pain in group A was less than that in group B.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the premise of strict controlling surgery indications, pedicle screw fixation via Wiltse paraspinal approach has the advantages of simple operation and less trauma in treatment of single-segment thoracolumbar fracture without neurologic injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, The Second Hospital, Shandong University Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Zhonghao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, The Second Hospital, Shandong University Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, The Second Hospital, Shandong University Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Deguo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, The Second Hospital, Shandong University Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic, The Second Hospital, Shandong University Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Chuanliang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, The Second Hospital, Shandong University Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Mingzhi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gong
keywords: Thoracolumbar fracture; minimally invasive; pedicle screw; wiltse approach