Pre-hospital Care of the Spinal Cord Injured Person

Date

2004-3

Type

Conference paper

Conference title

International Spine & Spinal Cord Injuries Conference, Delhi, India

Author(s)

Nabil A. Alageli

Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a rare injury with an annual incidence of 15 to 20 per million in the UK, and 30 to 50 per million in the USA, the most common cause of spinal cord injury is road traffic accidents especially in the younger population. Cervical cord injury is, unfortunately, the most common (55%); 80% of patients with SCIs occur in victims of multiple trauma. The acutely injured spinal cord, especially the cervical and high thoracic, lead to multi-system dysfunction and physiological instability, which should be considered when dealing with such injuries.