Fractures of Dorsal Vertebrae in Epilepsy and Convulsion Therapy

Abstract

Fractures of the dorsal vertebrae remain one of the chief complications of convulsion therapy; and the problems of their mechanism and significance have not yet been completely solved. The present investigation has been developed with the intention of throwing fresh light on these matters by a comparative study of similar lesions in 27 patients suffering from the convulsions of idiopathic epilepsy, 21 of whom have also been treated by electrical convulsion therapy. A control group of 30 patients suffering from non-convulsive psychoses has also been examined, and in all cases the spine has been examined both clinically and radiologically, attention being focused, for the sake of clarity, on the dorsal region only.