Survey of Spinal Cord Injuries Due to Diving Accidents in Taiwan

Abstract

Objective: To examine the clinical characteristics of diving-related spinal cord injuries (SCI) in Taiwan. Methods: This study is a retrospective review of all hospitalized patients with spinal cord injuries due to diving accidents in three rehabilitation centers between January 1982 and July 2002. Demographic data and clinical features were presented and analyzed. Results: A total of 1216 spinal cord injuries were reviewed, and 16 cases (1.3%) met the inclusion criteria. Their mean age at the time of injury was 26.8 years and 15 (94.0%) of the cases were male. All of the injuries resulted in tetraplegia and 11 (69.0%) were neurologically complete. The most commonly neurological level was C5. The most common vertebral injury level was C5 (50.0%), followed by C4 and C6. All of the injuries occurred during summer and 63.0% occurred in the open water. Associated injuries were rare. A total of 75.0% of the patients underwent surgical treatment and neurological recovery was observed in 37.5% of these cases, of which most were incomplete injuries. Discussion and Conclusions: The proportion of diving-related spinal cord injuries in our study was lower than most of the previous reports. A higher percentage of traffic accidents and accidental falls, and a reduced popularity of water sports are possible reasons. We observed some typical features of SCI due to diving accidents in our study. Most of the diving accidents occurred among young males, and resulted in mid-cervical injuries with complete tetraplegia. Our results show that injury-preventing strategies need to be emphasized.