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Thoracolumbar Spine Trauma

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Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Abstract

During the past decade, minimally invasive spinal surgical techniques have become widely accepted to treat degenerative conditions, tumors, infections, and deformities. Minimally invasive techniques are now also being used to treat thoracolumbar spine trauma. The advantages of minimally invasive spine surgery include decreased blood loss and decreased infection rates, with similar efficacy to that of more invasive techniques. Minimally invasive surgical stabilization of thoracolumbar trauma has also been shown to be a viable treatment option in a “damage control orthopedics” setting, in which traditional open approaches might not be possible.

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Acknowledgment

The authors thank Senior Editor and Writer Dori Kelly, MA, for invaluable assistance with the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, Spine Division, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Kelley E. Banagan, Ian Bussey, Alysa Nash, Jael E. Camacho-Matos, M. Farooq Usmani & Steven C. Ludwig

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Daniel L. Cavanaugh

Authors
  1. Kelley E. Banagan
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  2. Daniel L. Cavanaugh
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  3. Ian Bussey
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  4. Alysa Nash
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  5. Jael E. Camacho-Matos
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  6. M. Farooq Usmani
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  7. Steven C. Ludwig
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven C. Ludwig .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Frank M. Phillips

  2. Texas Back Institute Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano Scoliosis and Spine Tumor Center, Plano, TX, USA

    Isador H. Lieberman

  3. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    David W. Polly Jr.

  4. Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL, USA

    Michael Y. Wang

Appendices

Quiz Questions

  1. 1.

    What are absolute contraindications to minimally invasive spinal surgery (MISS)?

  2. 2.

    Name two advantages of MISS over traditional open approaches.

  3. 3.

    Which of the following is not a relative indication for MISS in the trauma setting?

    1. (a)

      Bony chance fracture at T12

    2. (b)

      Pelvic ring fracture

    3. (c)

      Burst fracture at T12 with widening of the interpedicular distance

    4. (d)

      Stable burst fracture of T12 in a healthy 34-year-old man

  4. 4.

    Which of the following is a contraindication to the anteroposterior targeting surgical approach in the setting of thoracolumbar trauma?

    1. (a)

      Concurrent unstable pelvic fracture in a 62-year-old man

    2. (b)

      Previous surgical instrumentation at the level of injury

    3. (c)

      Morbid obesity resulting in poor radiographic visualization

    4. (d)

      17-year-old male patient with an epidural hematoma

  5. 5.

    True or false: In the setting of spinal trauma requiring anterior decompression, posterior minimally invasive percutaneously placed screws are not a viable option for restoring mechanical stability of the spine.

Answers

  1. 1.

    Hemodynamic instability, elevated or rising serum lactate levels, coagulopathy, hypothermia.

  2. 2.

    Decreased postoperative infection rate, decreased intraoperative blood loss.

  3. 3.

    d

  4. 4.

    c

  5. 5.

    False

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Banagan, K.E. et al. (2019). Thoracolumbar Spine Trauma. In: Phillips, F., Lieberman, I., Polly Jr., D., Wang, M. (eds) Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19007-1_40

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19007-1_40

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19006-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19007-1

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