Management of Spinal Injury: Experience in Rajshahi Medical College Hospital

Abstract

Spinal injury is a critical neurosurgical emergency requiring prompt and highly skilled management. This study was carried out in the Neurosurgery unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on 465 cases of spinal injury over 6 years. The age range of the patients was 4 to 72 years and most commonly involved age group was between 20 to 40 years. Male to female ratio was 5:1. Cervical spines were most commonly (41%) affected by injury followed by thoracic (13%), lumber (36%), cervico-thoracic (4%) and lumbo-thoracic spines (6%). Common causes of spinal injury were fall from height (44.30%), RTA (22.15%), heavy weight bearing (13.11%) and assault with gun shot (7.74%). Paraparesis was the most frequent (55%) clinical presentation due to spinal injury followed by quadriparesis (45%). Two third of the patients were managed conservatively and 9% required operative treatment. Mortality rate was 12% and 8% patient refused to take treatment. TAJ 2002; 15(1): 25-27

Evaluation of spinal injuries by MRI

“…In a study by Rahman ML et al, the male to female ratio was 5:1, which was in accordance to this study. 9 In a study by Nagvekar RA et al, 71% of the patients were males and a higher patient load of males was seen in another study by Lenehan B et al 10,11 The most common age group to be affected was 31-40years (28.2%) followed by 24.4% in the 21-30year age group. 20.5% affected patients were in the 41-50year age group.…”