Treatment of type-A3 amyelic thoracolumbar fractures (burst fractures) with kyphoplasty: initial experience.

The authors propose a minimally invasive procedure for treating type-A3 amyelic thoracolumbar fractures according to Magerl classification (compression burst fractures). The procedure, percutaneous kyphoplasty, allows the fracture to be reduced and vertebral height to be restored by injecting bone cement into a cavity created in the vertebral body by an inflatable balloon introduced with the percutaneous approach. Four patients were successfully treated, with clinical and functional benefit in all cases. There were no complications.