Two kinds of posterior approach for Kümmell's disease after osteoporotic thoracolumbar fracture

To compare the surgical results of two kinds of posterior approach for osteoporotic thoracolum-bar Kummell's disease.Methods: Clinical and radiographic results of 1-seg-mental pedicle screw fixation combined with vertebroplasty (Group A, n=12) or posterior shortening osteotomy (Group B, n=16) for osteoporotic thoracolumbar Kummell's disease were analyzed retrospectively. Japanese orthopedic asso-ciation (JOA) and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were used for clinical evaluation. Neurological status was judged by Frankel grades. X-ray was used to evaluate the radio-graphic results. Complications related to operation and de-vices were also considered. Results: The follow-up period was 12-54 months (average 29 months). Pre- and post-operative VAS were 9.3 and 3.2 in Group A, 8.9 and 2.5 in Group B, respectively. The mean JOA score at the final follow-up was significantly higher than that of pre-operation (t=5.306, P<0.001). There was no sig-nificant difference between Groups A and B (t=0.618, P>0.05). The kyphosis were corrected from preoperative 33.9°(A)/37.3°(B) to postoperative 10.3°(A)/6.5°(B), and 15.3°(A)/13.7°(B) at the final follow-up. There was a significant difference between the two groups at the final follow-up. Frankel grade was improved from grade C preoperatively to postopera-tively grade D or E in 7 cases of Group A and 5 cases of Group B, from grade D to E in 5 cases of Group A and 11 cases of Group B. The mean improvement was 1.6 and 1.7 grades for Groups A and B, respectively. There were no serious complications related to internal fixation. Conclusions: The similar clinical results can be ob-tained by the two kinds of posterior surgical methods for osteoporotic Ktimmell's disease. Posterior spinal shorten-ing is a better choice for patients with serious kyphosis combined with neurological deficit than the other.