Question
Fell off a ladder on 14/02/08 and was told following Xray I had soft tissue damage only. Told to take it easy 72hrs only. On 22/03 some 6 weeks later I contacted to say I have a compressed fracture of T11 and that following a return to Hosp the vertebrae has settled at about 1.3 cm loss, another 4mm from original scan. Not in massive pain but consistent aches and twinges. seeing surgeon next week, but not told what could happen so nervous. Can you give me any advice and possible outcomes!

Answer
Dear Andy,

The good news here is that the compression fracture you have is fairly small, and should be a good candidate for a surgical repair.  Even though it has been six weeks since the injury occured, you may still be able to have the fracture corrected to reduce the amnount of bone deformation.  There is a specific procedure for these types of fracture reductions and it is called vertebroplasty.

The procedure is usually perfomed by an interventional radiologist, an orthopedic surgeon with a spine fellowship, or a neurosurgeon, however, it is minimally invasive.  Your prognosis for recovery with the vertebroplasty technique is very good, and you should be able to function without compromise.  Check out the link below for more detailed information.

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=vertebro&bhcp=1

Respectfully,
Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman
www.suncoasthealthcare.net