Abstract: BACKGROUND: The rapid development of spine minimally invasive surgery, the treatment of spinal fractures, especially thoracolumbar fractures, has been rapidly updated in recent years in equipment and concepts, reducing surgical trauma, shortening recovery time, and improving treatment satisfaction. 
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the therapeutic effect of percutaneous pedicle screw placement and open wound placement in the treatment of thoracolumbar fractures without nerve injury.  
METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 52 patients with thoracolumbar fractures without nerve injury who were admitted to Naval Hospital of Eastern Theater Command from January 2015 to December 2018. According to nail placement technology, the patients were divided into two groups. The 24 patients in the observation group received percutaneous pedicle screw placement combined with injured vertebrae nail placement technology. The 28 patients in the control group received open injured vertebrae nail placement. Perioperative indicators (operation time, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative fluoroscopy, postoperative hospital stay, and incision healing rate) were compared between the two groups. Postoperative low back pain visual analogous scale score, anterior vertebral height percentage, and sagittal kyphotic Cobb angle were analyzed during follow-up.  
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The operation time and the number of intraoperative fluoroscopy were more in the observation group than those of the control group (P < 0.05), but the blood loss, postoperative hospital stay and incision healing rate were better in the observation group than those of the control group (P < 0.05). (2) All patients completed a follow-up for more than 12 months. The visual analogous scale scores of low back pain at 3 days, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery in the observation group were better than those in the control group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the anterior body height percentage and the sagittal kyphosis Cobb angle between the two groups (P > 0.05). (3) The results suggest that the minimally invasive percutaneous vertebral nail placement technique reduces surgical trauma, although there are differences in fluoroscopy and operation time. However, the clinical effect is affirmative.

Key words: thoracolumbar vertebral fractures, minimally invasive, percutaneous, pedicle screw, internal fixation, vertebral nail placement, follow-up