Radiologic and clinical evaluation of Harrington instrumentation in the injured dorsolumbar spine.

Conventional radiography and CT examination of the dorsolumbar spine were performed in 9 cases of vertebral fractures before and after Harrington instrumentation. The findings were correlated with neurologic symptoms and signs and the role of a commonly observed retropulsed vertebral body fragment in the development of compression symptoms of the spinal cord or cauda equina is discussed.