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Abstract
The work was conducted on 102 patients who sustained traumatic thoracic and lumbar spine injuries during the period from July 1999 to March 2004 at neurosurgery division of Al-Zagazig University Hospital.
The cases were divided into two main groups:
1. Conservative group:
Thirty patients who admitted lately, had major, severe and multiple associated systemic injuries or had a major medical contraindication for spinal surgery.
2. Surgical group:
Seventy-two patients were admitted early after injury, had spinal surgical intervention within 30 days of the injury.
Evaluation of the extent of neurological function was done by using the numerical Yale Scale Scoring system.
All patients had plain X-rays, CT scans and MRI images for initial evaluation and in the follow up period.
We have achieved the following results:
The age range was 13-60 years with a mean of 38 years.
There were 68 men (66.6%) and 34 women (33.4%) with male to female ratio was 2:1.
Traffic accidents were the causative trauma in 53 patients (52%) and fall from height were the cause in 49 patients (48%).
Early presentation after injury in the first 24 hours was found in 62 patients (86.1%) in surgical group while late presentation more than 5 weeks after injury was found in 12 patients (40%) of conservative group.