[Burst fracture: osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture associated with paraplegia]

It is rare that vertebral compression fracture of senile osteoporosis causes paraplegia. This article reviews 164 cases reported in Japan since 1974. These fractures were characterized as follows: 1) paraplegia occurred in elderly females (average 69.3 years old) with severe osteoporosis, 2) traumatic histories were revealed in 52%, 3) 91% of the fractures were classified into burst type, 4) location was in the thoracolumber region (80.5%), 5) average onset of paraplegia was 5.7 months after fracture. One hundred and twenty nine cases were surgically treated either by anterior vertebral fusion or by posterior instrumentation and 35 cases were conservatively treated. Surgical cases showed better recovery of walking ability than conservative cases.