The authors present their experience with 28 patients who had incurred unstable thoracic or lumbar spine fractures and who were intraoperatively stabilized with the TexasScottishRiteHospital (TSRH) universal instrumentation system. These patients were treated over a 1-year period and reflect an evolving insight into the treatment of thoracic and lumbar spinetrauma with universal instrumentation. The TSRH instrumentation system appears equivalent to the more established Cotrel-Dubousset system in most respects. The construct design of the TSRH system facilitates the safe application of a rigid spinal implant. No cases of instability or pseudoarthrosis were observed during an average follow-up period of 9 months, (minimum 3 months). As the surgical treatment plan evolved, shorter and more compact constructs were increasingly utilized. There were no cases of instrumentation failure, regardless of the number of spinal levels fused or the number of levels instrumented. The value of using short rods when possible is emphasized: they may decrease the incidence of delayed instability and discomfort related to loosening at the hook/bone interface compared to that observed when long-rod systems are used in association with short spine fusions causing a fusion/instrumentation mismatch.

• Instrumentation for spinal trauma. [J Neurosurg. 1992]