Abstract
In burst fracture of thoracolumbar junction, compressive injury of middle column is characteristic and neurologic symptom develops by retropulsion of bony fragment into spinal
canal. Authors had treated 44 cases with burst fracture of thoracolumbar junction at Ewha Woman' University Mokdong Hospital from September, 1993 to December, 1997 and analyzed the relationships between simple radiologic findings and canal encroachment and between neurology and canal encroachment. The results were as follows; Canal encroachment by bony fragment was larger in lower vertebra than in upper one. Canal encroachment was larger in Denis type A than in type B. Both anterior vertebral height(AVH) and presence of neurology were not related with the amount of canal encroachment. The lesser loss of posterior vertebral height(PVH) and kyphotic angle were, the more canal encroachment was. In summary, factors that influenced the amount of canal encroachment were fracture level and type. There was no significant relationship between
neurology and the amount of canal encroachment. AVH, PVH and kyphotic angle were not related with the amount of canal encroachment.