Lumbar vertebral reformation after traumatic compression fracture.

Received March 5, 1984; accepted May 18, 1984. On physical examination, there was tenderness in the L 1 area. Neurologic examination was normal. Initial radiographs (fig. 1A) of the lumbosacral spine revealed a compression fracture of the L 1 vertebra; subsequent myelography demonstrated an extradural block at the same level. At surgery, a standard posterior exposure of the dorsal arches of T10-L3 was performed. Distraction hooks were placed carefully under the laminae of T10 and L3 after hemilaminectomies at these levels. Harrington rods were passed through the hooks, and the injury site was distracted until the normal vertebral height and adjacent interspace integrity was reestablished . All the exposed facet joints were then drilled out and autogenous iliac graft fragments impacted into the defects. The laminar surfaces were decorticated and additional iliac