Purpose of the study: Transverse fractures of sacrum are quite rare. Only about 70 cases have been reported in the relevant literature. Low frequency and rather difficult fracture imaging lead to therapeutical uncertainty and are a cause of a delay of urgent surgery.
Material and methods: A group of three male patients aged 17.43 and 31 years was studied. Two patients sustained the injury at a paragliding accident, one by fall from height. One patient underwent only a simple spinal canal decompression 24 days after the injury. The second patient underwent surgery on the fourth day and in the third patient the procedure was carried out sixteen hours after the injury. Procedure on the second and third patient included decompression of neural structures, fracture stabilization as well as spinal-pelvic fixation using an internal fixation.
Results: The delayed simple spinal canal decompression didn't improve patient's condition. On the other hand, surgeries performed urgently in the other two patients provided a considerable improvement of the neural deficit.
Discussion: Transverse fractures of the upper part of sacrum without any concomitant pelvic fracture are rare and rather difficult to diagnose. Clinical symptoms are inconclusive. However, low back pain, numbness in lower extremities and in the genital, anal region anesthesia should induce the suspicion of this type of trauma even in cases of normal AP and lateral lumbar spine X-rays. In addition to neurological investigation, a lateral x-ray of sacrum and CT and NMR imaging are essential. Conservative treatment, even if complemented with halo-femoral traction does not provide satisfactory results. Also the simple spinal canal decompression gives no contribution to the patient's recovery. Authors suggest a staged surgical procedure providing decompression of neural structures, reduction and stable fixation of the fracture (using screws and plates) and spinal-pelvic stabilization (using the internal spine fixator). Urgent and comprehensive treatment of this type of injury facilitates patient's early mobilization, enables his early discharge and improves neurological recovery.
Conclusion: Severely displaced fractures of sacrum associated with a neural deficit require the same urgent and comprehensive treatment as vertebral fractures succeeded by a spinal cord injury. Due to low incidence of such injuries patients should be treated at highly specialized centers experienced with this type of surgery.