Conservative versus operative treatment for thoracolumbar burst fractures without neurologic deficit
One article on PainSci cites Avilés 2016: Spinal Fracture Bracing
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Thoracolumbar burst fractures account for up to 17% of major spinal fractures. Both conservative and operative treatments are widely used in clinical practice to manage thoracolumbar burst fractures. Previous studies showed good functional results with both treatments, but surgical approach has been associated with higher cost and risks of causing unnecessary adverse effects. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening 30 databases, we identified 14 systematic reviews including 25 randomized trials. We combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table following the GRADE approach. We concluded that operative treatment may decrease the risk of neurologic impairment, but in turn, could increase the risk of general complications. It is unclear whether there are differences in pain reduction, improvement in function and quality of life, need for subsequent surgery or radiographic progression of kyphosis in both groups.
related content
- Surgery: The ultimate placebo (book), by Ian Harris (book review).
- “Sham Surgery in Orthopedics: A Systematic Review of the Literature,” Adriaan Louw, Ina Diener, César Fernández-de-Las-Peñas, and Emilio J Puentedura, Pain Med, 2016.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Association of Lumbar MRI Findings with Current and Future Back Pain in a Population-based Cohort Study. Kasch 2022 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- A double-blinded randomised controlled study of the value of sequential intravenous and oral magnesium therapy in patients with chronic low back pain with a neuropathic component. Yousef 2013 Anaesthesia.
- Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.
- Sudden amnesia resulting in pain relief: the relationship between memory and pain. Choi 2007 Pain.
- Photobiomodulation therapy is not better than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Guimarães 2021 Pain.