Cervical spinal cord injury: the correlations of initial clinical features and blood gas analyses with early prognosis

The predictive values of some early post-traumatic clinical symptoms and signs and laboratory tests on the problems, complications and prognosis of the initial treatment of tetraplegic patients were studied. The study was carried out by scrutinizing the files of 54 patients with a cervical spinal co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Paraplegia 1989-02, Vol.27 (1), p.19-26
Main Authors: MYLLYNEN, P, KIVIOJA, A, ROKKANEN, P, WILPPULA, E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Blood Gas Analysis
Female
Fluid Therapy
Heart Rate
Humans
Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents
Male
Medical sciences
Parenteral Nutrition
Prognosis
Quadriplegia - complications
Quadriplegia - diagnosis
Respiration, Artificial
Spinal Cord Injuries - complications
Spinal Cord Injuries - diagnosis
Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents
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Summary:The predictive values of some early post-traumatic clinical symptoms and signs and laboratory tests on the problems, complications and prognosis of the initial treatment of tetraplegic patients were studied. The study was carried out by scrutinizing the files of 54 patients with a cervical spinal cord injury (40 of them complete and 14 incomplete). Most of the patients (n = 43) needed ventilatory support, the duration of which depended on the level and completeness of the spinal cord injury. Bradycardia, hypotonia and tachypnoea at admission occurred most frequently in those patients who later developed complications or died. In addition, the frequency of complications correlated with a patient's age, previous diseases and with the height and degree of the spinal cord injury. Tachypnoea on admission forecast the later development of respiratory complications. All 8 patients who died, 5 of them from pneumonia and 3 from pulmonary embolism, had their spinal cord injury at the level C4 to C5 and they were significantly older than those who survived.
ISSN:0031-1758
1362-4393
1476-5624
DOI:10.1038/sc.1989.3