BACKGROUND:There is controversial in choosing the treatment method for the treatment of traumatic subaxial cervical fracture-dislocation and spinal cord injury.
OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the clinical effect of implant internal fixation and Halo-vest external fixation on the stability after treatment of subaxial cervical fracture-dislocation.
METHODS:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 17 patients with subaxial cervical fracture-dislocation in the Department of Orthopedics, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical Col ege between January 2009 to December 2011, including 13 male patients and 4 female patients, the age was ranged from 21-65 years, average 41.6 years. There were six cases of high fal ing injury, three cases of crush injury and eight cases of traffic accident injury. The hospitalization time after injury was 2 hours to 5 days, average 2.5 days. Al the patients received Halo-vest external fixation under local anesthesia, then distraction gradual y, and received anterior decompression graft and titanium screw fixation under reduction. The treatment effect was evaluated
through Frankel classification and imaging examination.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Al the patients were fol owed-up for 12-24 months, average 15.4 months. Normal anteraposterior X-ray film showed fracture reduction, the cervical vertebra restored to the normal
sequence and physiological curvature;CT showed graft fusion without internal fixation fracture and loosing;
according to Frankel classification, marked effect (decreased for 2 grade) in five cases, effective (decreased for 1
grade) in 10 cases, and ineffective in two cases. Implant internal fixation combined with Halo-vest external fixation is safe and reliable in the instability fixation of subaxial cervical fracture-dislocation, and can better restore the spinal sagittal alignment.