Spinal burst fracture [Neurosurgery Wiki]

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.

====== Spinal burst fracture ======


A burst [[spine fracture]] is a type of traumatic spinal injury in which a vertebra breaks from a high-energy axial load (e.g., car accidents or falls from a great height or high speed, and some kinds of seizures), with shards of vertebra penetrating surrounding tissues and sometimes the spinal canal.

The burst fracture is categorized by the "severity of the deformity, the severity of (spinal) canal compromise, the degree of loss of vertebral body height, and the degree of neurologic deficit.

===== Clinical features =====
They usually present as back pain and or lower limb neurologic deficits in the clinical scenario of trauma.

Burst fractures are considered more severe than [[compression fracture]]s because long-term neurological damage can follow. The neurologic deficits can reach their full extent immediately, or can progress for a prolonged time.

see [[Thoracolumbar burst fracture]].