Abstract:Objective To compare the clinical curative effect of anterior decompression and posterior decompression on the treatment of thoracolumbar spine fractures complicated with spinal cord compression. Methods Sixty patients diagnosed as thoracolumbar spine fractures complicated with spinal cord compression between January 2013 and Jannuary 2015 were randomly divided into treatment group and control group. The treatment group was treated by anterior approach decompression and the control group was treated by posterior approach decompression. All the operations were completed by the same treatment team. The surgical time,intraoperative blood loss, length of incision and perioperative complications were recorded and compared. The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) motor function and tactile scores were used to evaluate neurological function before and 1 year after operation. Height of injured vertebral body, Cobb's angle and fracture healing were evaluated by X-ray. Results Before surgery, the ASIA motor and tactile scores, height of injured vertebral body and Cobb's angle of the treatment group were similar to those of the control group (p > 0.05).One year after surgery, those indexes were significantly differeent from the preoperative ones (p < 0.05); moreover,the values of the treatment group were signifiantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). The intraoperative blood loss was more, the surgical time and length of incision were longer, and the incidences of perioperative complications were higher in the treatment group than in the control group ( < 0.05). All patients in this study achieved solid fusion after one year, and no broken nails, broken rods or stick out nails were observed. Conclusions Anterior approach decompression and posterior approach decompression are sufficient to provide stronge internal fixation for treatment of thoracolumbar fractures. Compared with posterior decompression,anterior decompression is more effective and better promotes spinal cord function. The anterior decompression induces more blood loss and trauma, therefore needs more careful perioperative preparation.