Adjacent-level vertebral body fractures after expandable cage reconstruction

Abstract

Expandable cages are frequently used to reconstruct the anterior spinal column after a corpectomy. The forces that are used to expand these cages can be large, depending upon the mechanism of expansion. To the authors' knowledge, there have been no reports of adjacent-level vertebral body fracture after placement of expandable cages. The authors report 4 cases of adjacent-level vertebral body fractures after placement of expandable cages. This study found that the fracture pattern in the coronal plane was similar in all cases.