FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME OF THORACOLUMBAR BURST FRACTURES WITHOUT NEUROLOGICAL DEFICIT

Thoracolumbar burst fractures are a major cause of disability; however , there are few studies on the functional outcome of patients with thi s injury. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the functional outc ome of patients with thoracolumbar burst fractures using a generic and a condition-specific health status survey. The SF-36 survey (generic) and the Roland scale (condition-specific) were administered to 24 pat ients who had a minimum of 2 years follow-up after a thoracolumbar bur st fracture without neurologic deficit. The average SF-36 score was 65 % (compared to 45% for dialysis and 66% for diabetes) and the Roland s core was 65% (compared to 58% for low back pain). Of the patients, 33% were able to return to their previous employment, but only 8% were ab le to return to their pre-injury level of sports. There was a strong c orrelation (r = 0.71) between the Roland scale and the SF-36 pain scal e. There were poor correlations between the Roland scale and residual kyphosis (r = 0.003), and between the SF-36 pain scale and residual ky phosis (r = 0.10). There was no significant difference in the function al outcome of those patients treated operatively versus nonoperatively .