Detailed Account of a Demographic Study of Thoracolumbar Junction Fracture in a Developing Country and Its Social Impact

Introduction: Spinal cord injury due to traumatic accidents is a major cause of disability throughout
theworld. Among the spinal injury patients more than 30% suffered from Thoracolumbar Spine (TLS)
injury with great preponderance to Thoracolumbar Junction (T10-L2) injury.
Methods and Materials: This was a prospective study on 38 patients who were admitted in the
NeurosurgeryDepartment at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in the period of January
2010 to December 2011 with thoracolumbar junction injuries and were analyzed regarding
demographic patterns after getting approval of the Ethical Committee of Bangladesh College of
Physician and Surgeons (BCPS) and DMCH. Patients with single level Thoracolumbar Junction Injury
(D10-L2) and who had TLICS score ≥ 4 were included in this study. Patients with TLICS score ≤ 3,
multiple level thoracolumbar junction injury, associated other injuries like head injury, abdominal
injury, long bone fractures and any pathological thoracolumbar fractures were excluded.
Result: There were 36 males and 2 females with average age of 29.42 ± 8.11 years (range 17-50
years). Fallfrom height was the commonest (79%) cause of injury. Most of the patients were farmers
and came from lower income class. Most of the patients 29(76.3%) were illiterate. The mean time
interval from injury to admission was found to be 8.97 ± 10.11 days (2 to 60 days).
Conclusion: In this study large number of patients were in their active period of life. Due to lack of
awarenessin their working place, proper counseling and appropriate management of these patients
eventually become burden to their family and society. This study clearly shows that large numbers of
patients were in their active period of life. Due to unawareness in their working place they were
vulnerable to injury. This burden can be minimized with good governance regarding safety
measurement in working place and raising awareness among people in their active lives.