We present a series of 97 patients with spinal cord injury. Those patients were treated at Soonchunhyan University Chonan Hospital during six-year-period (January 1986-December 1992), and followed up for at least 3 months. They were divided into
four
groups : completesurgical, complete-conservative, partial-surgical, and partial-conservative. Male to female ratio was 3.6:1, and the peak age was the fifth decade. Passenger's traffic accident (46%) was the most common cause of injury and
fall/slip
(39%) followed next. Level of spinal injury was cervical in 51%, thoracic in 29%, lumbar in 13%, and others in 7%. Type of injury was fracture-dislocation in 31%, dislocation in 19%, compression fracture in 19%, burst fracture in 18%, cord inury
without
bony lesion in 7%, and others in 7%. Cord injury was complete in 36 patients (37%) and partial in 61 patients (63%). Surgery was performed in 20 patients with complete cored injury and 34 patients with partial injury. Majority of operations were
performed for spinal stability, and posterior instrumentation was the most commonly used operative method.
The mean neurotrauma motor index on admission was 44.1 in the complete-surgical group, 39.5 in complete-conservative group, 70.1 in partial-surgical group, and 63.2 in partial-conservative group. It improved to 52.5, 50.3, 90.4, 80.3 at 3 months,
and
53.4, 51.7, 91.8, 82.0 at final examination (mean follow-up period was 182.2 days), respectively. The mean values of the final index were higher in the surgically treated groups than the conservatively treated groups, but these differences were
not
statistically significant (student t-test, p>0.1). The mean recovery rate was 14.2% in the complete-surgical group, 17.7% in complete-conservative group, 66.1% in partial-surgical group, and 46.1% in partial-conservative group at 3 months. It
improved
to 16.6%, 19.3%, 70.0%, and 48.7% at final examination, respectively. The mean recovery rates were higher in the partially injured groups than the completely injured groups (student t-test, p<0.01), regardless the methods of treatment. The final
neurotrauma motor index was significantly (regression analysis, p<0.001) related to the initial index except the partial-surgical group.
Neurotrauma motor index was a useful method for assessing the injury severity, comparing the recovery rate and predicting prognosis.
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