Tetsu Murao

Rediographical Features of Acute Injuries of the Upper and Middle Thoracic Spine

We reviewed 32 cases of acute injuries of the upper and middle thoracic spines associated with paraplegia.Spinal injuries were distributed with peaks at T3/4 and T7/8 In 27 cases a fracture-dislocation was present: were twenty were anteriorly dislocated: six were lateraly dislocated; and one was posteriorly dislocated. On CAT scan, a separation of pedicle adjacent to the vertebral body was seen characteristically. All fracture-dislocations with incomplete spinal cord injury were accompanied with the charactaristic pedicle separation.

Operative Results of Aged Patients with Cervical Myelopathy

The operative results of cervical myelopathy were evaluated in twenty-eight patients who were more than sixty-five years old. The mean age of the patients was seventy-one years (range, sixty-six to seventy-nine) at the time of operation (older patients group). Cervical disorders included CSM in 16 cases, CDH in 4 cases, OPLL in 6 cases, and OYL in 2 cases. We compared older patients group with non-older patients group (less than fifty-four years old) in the operative results, as well as a good-result group (more than 50% recovary ratio) with a poor-result group (less than 49% recovary ratio) in the older patients. The results were as follows; 1) the older patients group were greater than the non-older patients group in the severity of symptoms and duration of symptoms before surgery, worse than in the recovery of symptoms after surgery; and 2) the severity of symptoms before surgery of the poor-result group was greater than that of the good-result group.