Although vertebral fractures are a damage caused by the severity of trauma, the anatomical and physiological structure of the patient can affect the patient's clinic in very different ways, regardless of the severity of the trauma. The most important of these factors are the age of the patient, the degree of osteoporosis, whether there is an underlying rheumatic disease, the tumor affecting the patient's bone marrow, or the spread of the tumor in the body to the spine.
When we consider the age of the patient, bone resistance in childhood is more resistant than in adults. We can say that it is. In addition, the muscle structures surrounding the spine in children are less developed than in adults. For this reason, spinal cord injury may occur in childhood by tearing the strong ligaments surrounding the spine without bone fractures. The possibility of fractures or slippage in the vertebrae should be investigated more carefully in patients with suspected neurological spinal cord injury in childhood.
Bone structure changes throughout life. Since bone mass provides the main structure of the spine, the rate of bone formation and destruction is a determining factor for spine health. Generally, after the age of 50, a decrease in bone mass, that is, osteoporosis, is observed. In elderly patients, the deterioration in the bone structure in the spine as a result of osteoporosis impairs the bone's ability to resist trauma, and serious fractures may occur in the patients' spines.
In patients using steroids for a long time, there is an increased risk of osteoporosis even at early ages, resulting in an increased risk of vertebral fractures. Ankylosing Spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease seen in young adult men. Although it is a rare disease, it is known that osteoprosis develops in these patients, bone mass and resistance decrease, and bone loss occurs especially in the spine. In these patients, the feeling of pain and stiffness, the steroids used in the treatment, and the accompanying diseases are also factors that affect the treatment process.
Rheumatoid arthritis, one of the rheumatic diseases, appears as another cause of vertebral fractures. As a disease of unknown cause, in which the body declares war on itself, symmetrical involvement in the joints of patients and damage to their spines may occur. rheumatoid arthritis Spinal fractures can be seen in patients, even in minor traumas, as a result of patient immobilization as a result of the chronic pain suffered by the patients, as well as the steroids used.
Approximately one-third of all cancers can spread to the spine. Spread to the spine is the most common cause of breast cancer in women and lung cancer in men. can be seen. In patients with cancer that has spread to the spine, fractures in the spine may occur and neurological damage may occur as a result of the compression of the fractures on the spinal cord. In patients presenting with osteoporotic fractures, possible underlying tumor diseases should be questioned carefully, detailed radiological examination should be performed, and if necessary, a biopsy should be taken from the spine to make a diagnosis. Vertebra fractures due to osteoporosis present with serious waist and back pain. As a result of these pains, patients may be restricted in their daily activities due to pain, and pain that does not respond to even very strong painkillers and may occur even at rest can be quite disturbing for patients.
Restriction of daily activities due to pain, especially in elderly patients, and comorbidities and may cause complications. In cases that do not respond to bed rest and medical treatment, thanks to interventional procedures such as vertetroplasty, which is known as the injection of cement into the spine, biopsy can be taken from the spine for diagnostic purposes, and it is possible to increase the strength of the spine and relieve the pain of the patients.
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