17241              FRACTURE OF T3 AND T4 WITH CORD COMPRESSION

The patient was a woman aged 51 admitted paraplegic after a vehicular accident. A tracheostomy was performed. She died six weeks later of respiratory infection.

The specimen consists of a sagittal cut through the upper thoracic spine to show compression with backward angulation of the bodies of T3 and T4. There is posterior encroachment by bony fragments on the spinal canal with compression of the spinal cord. Remnants of the intervertebral disc are present within the bony mass.