Retrospective analysis of the occurrence of radiologically detectable surgical error in cases of failed pedicle screw implants.

Pedicle screw instrumentation is an important tool in an orthopaedic surgeon's armamentarium in the management of spinal fractures. Complications with this system have been studied extensively. Due to the exacting technique the possibility of surgical error exists while using this modality. We studied a series of 216 cases where pedicular screws had been used and isolated 34 cases of implant failure. Retrospective analyses of their radiographs showed that surgical error does contribute to the implant failure in a statistically significant manner.