A single-stage combined surgical approach for vertebral resections.

Five patients with a destructive vertebral lesion (infectious or tumorous) in the thoracolumbar or lumbar spine were treated with single-stage resection, anterior spine fusion, and posterior Harrington distraction instrumentation. Twelve patients with a fracture-dislocation were also so treated. Correction of vertebral instability and deformity and early mobilization of the patient were the advantages realized. Of the seventeen patients, ten with an incomplete neural deficit improved, three of them to complete recovery. The conditions of five patients with traumatic, complete paraplegia remained unchanged postoperatively. All patients began walking or sitting within fourteen days of the operative procedure. The reported complications were one failure of Harrington instrumentation eight months after the operation and one wound infection one month postoperatively.