A retrospective study of 34 traumatic spinal cord injury patients admitted consequently to the Department of neurosurgery. Chung-Nam University Hospital between March, 1991 and Octover, 1993 was conducted.
These patients were grouped by injury mechanism, level of vertebral injury, type of cord injury, and management. Degree of injuries and prognosis were classified by modified Frankel's classification.
The average age was 37.8 and the ratio of male to female was 16 to 1. The causes of trauma were traffic accident, falling down, diving, slip down.
Traffic accident was the most common cause of spinal cord injury, and passenger injury was the most frequent cause among that. Twenty-one patients of these patients had surgical intervention by anterior approach or posterior approach with bone
fusion.
The others were immobilized by conservative treatment using traction and brace. The common complications were urinary tract infection, pneumonia, bed sore, wound infection, and gastrointestinal bleeding. The most frequent complications were
urinary
tract infection and pneumonia. Mortality rate was high in cervical cord injury group with neurologic status A.
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