C • DISLOCATIONS OF THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN
155
3-5-65
FIG. 83.
grafted, wired, plated and fastened with metal screws. Munro summed up his views on
fusion-therapy as follows:
'Any physician or surgeon who advocates fusion-type therapy for fractures and
dislocations of the spine must first ask himself and then answer the following question:
Is it good surgical practice to reduce a fracture before fusing or splinting it ? If the answer
is "Yes", then neither fusion nor splinting of spinal fractures or dislocations until after
a period of traction has been employed to make such a reduction. The corollary to this
is that the only possible use for fusion is for maintenance, which in turn limits its use,
if otherwise suitable to no earlier a period after the injury than one year, and restricts
it as therapy to specific, demonstrable, otherwise incorrectable problems inherent in
maintenance.
