Objective To analyze the spinal injury in Wenchuan earthquake and to investigate its cl inical features. Methods Data of 146 patients in Wenchuan earthquake with spinal injuries (79 males, 67 females; aged 11-88 years old, average 51 years old) were collected and analyzed epidemiologically. Two patients under 16 years of age, 15 patients withthe fractures of spinous process, transverse process or vertebra lamina, 1 patient with spinal fractures of type A2 according to AO classification but no corresponding type in Denis classification, and 9 patients with upper cervical injuries were excluded. The remaining 119 patients were divided into two groups according to their age: group A in which 78 patients were under 60 years of age, including 40 males and 38 females aged 18-58 years old (average 41 years old), and group B in which 41 patients were 60 years of age or above, including 24 males and 17 females aged 60-88 years old (average 71 years old). Analyses for the two groups were compared. Results The leading causes of spinal injuries were fall from high places (27.40%) and crush by heavy objects (67.81%). According to Denis classification, the major types of spinal injuries were burst fracture (54.62%) and compression fracture (33.61%). Serious nerve injury, defined as grade A, B and C in ASIA neurological function assessment, occurred in 31.51% of patients. The most common injured site was in thoracic or lumbar vertebrae (78.77%), and 52.74% of patients had combined injuries, among which the fractures of l imb (30.14%) and rib (19.86%) were the most common. Multilevel spinal fractures happened to 22.60% of patients. Comparative analysis revealed the rate of injury caused by fall from high places in group A (34.62%) was much higher than that in group B (12.20%). The commonest type of fracture in group A was burst fracture (58.97%), and it was compression fracture in group B (48.78%). The rate of serious nerve injury in group B (24.39%) was much lower than that in group A (44.87%). The rate of combined injury and multilevel vertebral body injury in group B was 70.73% and 39.02%, respectively, which was much higher than that in group A (combined injury 43.59%; multilevel vertebral body injury 21.79%). There were significant differences between two groups in all the indicators derived from cl inical data (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion In Wenchuan earthquake, the leading causes of spinal injuries are fall from high places and crush by heavy objects, the major types of fracture are compression fracture and burst fracture, and the occurrence rates of spinal injury, combined injury and multilevel vertebral body injury are high.
目的：分析四川汶川地震脊柱损伤患者CT表现及其价值。方法：对地震发生后近2个月内先后送至四川大学华西医院治疗的148名脊柱外伤伤员，进行脊柱骨折特点CT分析。结果：148例伤员共有341个椎骨骨折，其中颈椎骨折49个，胸椎骨折110个，腰椎骨折179个，骶椎骨折3个。压缩骨折43个，爆裂骨折41个，后柱断裂149个，压缩骨折合并后柱断裂6个，爆裂骨折合并后柱断裂102个，骨折脱位18个。148例脊柱伤员有84例伴发椎管狭窄。结论：CT能准确、快速地对地震脊柱损伤患者进行诊断，为临床治疗起到指导作用。