Objective: To assess the therapeutic effects of thoracic-lumbar fracture fixation with percutaneous mini-invasive pedicle screw system guided by computer navigation.
Method: Fifty-one thoracic-lumbar fracture patients were divided into two groups: Sextant group (n = 21) undergoing percutaneous screw fixation with a minimally invasive pedicle screw system, and conventional pedicle screw fixation group (n = 30). The differences in the incision size, average blood loss during operation, surgical time, time of resuming walking after operation, numerical analogous pain score, etc. were analyzed.
Results: The incision length of the sextant group was 2.4 +/- 0.41 cm, significantly shorter than that of the conventional pedicle screw fixation group (17.4 +/- 3.4 cm, P < 0.001). The average blood loss during operation of the sextant group was 114 +/- 67.4 ml, significantly less than that of the conventional pedicle screw fixation group (317 +/- 113.2 ml, P < 0.001). The surgical time of the sextant group was 2.1 +/- 0.4 hr, significantly shorter than that of the conventional pedicle screw fixation group (2.7 +/- 0.7, P < 0.05). The time of resuming walking after operation of the sextant group was 2.0 +/- 0.7 d, significantly shorter than that of the conventional pedicle screw fixation group (7.2 +/- 2.5 d, P < 0.001). The postoperative NAPS was significantly lower than that before operation in both groups, however, there was no significant difference in the improvement of NAPS between the two groups.
Conclusion: Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation using mini-invasive pedicle screw system guided by computer navigation is a good surgical therapeutic choice in thoracic-lumbar fracture.