Acute spinal cord injury

Acute spinal cord injuries may arise due to blunt injuries or to penetrating trauma, such as stab or gunshot injuries. The severity of injury is best described in terms of the orthopaedic injury and the sensorimotor pattern of neurological deficit (American Spinal Injury Association category). Advanced Trauma Life Support assessment of all trauma patients includes a thorough neurological examination to identify acute spinal cord injury, the management of which requires discussion with a dedicated spinal injuries unit, and, if appropriate, transfer for specialist care. Spinal injuries centres have multidisciplinary teams that can manage the medical and surgical aspects of patient care together with nursing expertise to avoid decubitus ulceration and other complications of spinal cord injury, and a full rehabilitation team to manage the physical, social, financial, and emotional aspects of rehabilitation. People with medical causes of spinal cord injury (e.g. transverse myelitis) experience many of the same problems as people with traumatic spinal cord injury.