[Posttraumatic spinal instability and the methods for its surgical correction]

The paper deals with the outcomes of 982 patients with thoracic and lumbar spinal lesions and the data of biomechanical testing (298 studies on 103 specimens from the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine). Major types of acute posttraumatic spinal instability (such as axial instability, threatening fractured fragment instability, and threatening segmental instability) are defined and the stabilizing capacities of routine surgical techniques are assessed. The current systems for stabilizing the spine (transpedicular designs and plates for anterior spinal fixation is shown to be effective.