[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by swatsurgeon

Pandora,
difficult question......the 2 options are operative stabilization and non-operative therapy. Each neurosurgeon will have criteria they use to decide which way to go, including the potential for (structural) instability, cord injury, ligament damage, activity level of the patient just to name a few. In terms of structural integrity, not to get you in over your head, there are 3 columns of the spine and depending on which of them, if any, have loss of stability, may dictate the need for operation.
The human body, if not overly smashed, can and will heal. If he just has compression fractures and no retropulsion (bone pushed into the cord), non-operative treatment may be okay.....it may not in the long run if he compresses, shifts, losses structural integrity in the future....it is a dynamic answer for a dynamic situation...it changes and there is no one way to deal with it....best to get 2 opinions from 2 different neurosurgeons that specialize in spine injuries.

ss

Pandora, Meet SwatSurgeon,Trauma Surgeon, Director of Trauma and personal friend of Doc T and myself. I know for a fact he's got an MD after his name anlong with a few other titles....
TS