Recommendations for the treatment of thoracolumbar and lumbar spine injuries

This paper gives recommendations for treatment of thoracolumbar and lumbar spine injuries. The recommendations are based on the experience of the involved spine surgeons, who are part of a study group of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Unfallchirurgie and a review of the current literature. Basics of diagnostic, conservative, and operative therapy are demonstrated. Fractures are evaluated by using morphologic criteria like destruction of the vertebral body, fragment dislocation, narrowing of the spinal canal, and deviation from the individual physiologic profile. Deviations from the individual sagittal profile are described by using the monosegmental or bisegmental end plate angle. The recommendations are developed for acute traumatic fractures in patients without severe osteoporotic disease.