Xu JX, et al. - Researchers revealed the risk factors for dural tears in thoracic and lumbar (TL) burst fractures related to vertical laminar fractures through multivariate analysis. Findings suggested a greater likeliness of patients with wider interpedicular distance and larger encroachment of retropulsed fragment in the bony spinal canal to have dural tears in TL burst fractures with vertical laminar fractures. The independent risk factors for dural tears were the ratio of interpedicular distance greater than 125% and the ratio of encroachment of retropulsed fragment in the bony spinal canal of more than 50%.