Spine injury: how to recognize and stabilize patient in golden hours periods

Abstract

An acute spinal cord injury (SCI) early management is one of the most challenging tasks in trauma cases. The outcome of its cases depends upon the accuracy, adequacy, and speed of first aid management, diagnosis, and treatment within the “Golden Hours Periods.” Rapid and safe transport of the spinal injury patient allows for early medical stabilization designed to preserve and potentially improve the neurological outcome. The complications that arise from spinal instability or neurological must be prevented immediately and involves all members of the multidisciplinary team. Specialized assessment of people with new spinal cord injuries must take place immediately after an injury. The diagnosis of SCI should include the level and severity of the damage of the spinal cord, type of fracture or/and dislocation of the injured vertebrae, and the stability of the spinal column. Imaging begins from plain radiograph and should include a multi-slice CT protocol of the entire spine to delineate the known injury and to exclude non-contiguous damages. The outcome SCI treatment depends on the number of axons that survived – the higher the number of surviving axons, the restoration of neurological functions might be higher. The management of SCI begins before the patient admitted to the hospital. The principles of treatments include early reduction and fixation, combined extramedullary and intramedullary decompression, cell transplantation, early rehabilitation treatment, and complication prevention. The surgical treatment sometimes needed to evaluate, stabilize the spine, decompress the area that injured, and managed any other injuries that may have been associated with the accident. Once a patient was stabilized, care, and treatment focus on supportive care and rehabilitation.