Posterolateral approach and anterior spinal canal recalibration in severe spinal injury affecting T-12, L-1: a study of seven cases.

The authors present seven cases of spinal trauma at the T-12--L-1 level with severe spinal canal stenosis secondary to compressive, anterior discocorporeal lesions. Associated neurological disorders were of varying severity. Six cases were investigated by computed tomography, which enabled the degree of thoracolumbar spinal canal stenosis to be determined. In all cases, the surgical procedure involved rectification of spinal deformity, with an initial unilateral posterolateral approach permitting anterior spinal canal recalibration, either by impaction of protrusive fragments or ablation of ejected disc fragments. The stabilization was in all cases achieved by complimentary bilateral plates using Roy-Camille material, associated with posterolateral arthrodesis by grafting with reconstruction of the articulopedicular structure. The functional spinal result was excellent in all cases, and recalibration was verified by tomography. In those cases showing neurological deficiency, good and early recovery was attributable to the suppression of spinal canal stenosis. The application of this posterolateral approach for severe lesions of the thoracolumbar junction seems to represent, in all cases of recent lesions, an alternative to the anterior or combined methods, which present widely recognized difficulties at the thoracoabdominal junction.