Cage or Pelvic Graft-Study on Bony Fusion of the Ventral Thoracic and Lumbar Spine in Traumatic Vertebral Fractures

Stabilization of the spine by cage implantation or autologous pelvic bone graft are surgical methods for the treatment of traumatic spine fractures. These methods serve to stably re-adjust the spine and to prevent late detrimental effects such as pain or increasing kyphosis. They both involve ventral interventions using interbody fusion to replace the intervertebral disc space between the vertebral bodies either by cages or autologous pelvic bone grafts. We examined which of these methods serves the patients better in terms of bone fusion and the long-term clinical outcome. Forty-six patients with traumatic fractures (12 cages; mean age: 54.08/34 pelvic bone grafts; mean age: 42.18) who received an anterior fusion in the thoracic or lumbar spine were included in the study. Postoperative X-ray images were evaluated, and fusion of the stabilized segment was inspected by two experienced spine surgeons. The time to discharge from hospital and gender differences were evaluated. There was a significant difference of the bone fusion rate of patients with autologous pelvic bone grafts in favor of cage implantation ( = 0.0216). Also, the stationary phase of patients who received cage implantations was clearly shorter (17.50 days vs. 23.85 days; = 0.0089). In addition, we observed a significant gender difference with respect to the bony fusion rate in favor of females treated with cage implantations ( < 0.0001). Cage implantations after spinal fractures result in better bony fusion rates as compared to autologous pelvic bone grafts and a shorter stay of the patients in the hospital. Thus, we conclude that cage implantations rather than autologous pelvic bone grafts should be the preferred surgical treatment for stabilizing the spine after fracture.