Contusion of the spinal canal – a condition that occurs during a back injury and is characterized by injury and damage to cerebrospinal tissue. After treatment and rehabilitation may be some residual effects.
Reasons for such injuries a lot, but most often it is a road accident and fall from height.
It can only be an isolated injury, associated, which affects other organs, and combined, which can be another kind of damage, for example burns.
There is another division of injuries that can lead to this pathology:
- Closed, in which no damage to the paravertebral tissue.
- Open, but the fragments do not penetrate into the spinal canal.
- Open and penetrating into the spinal canal. Such wounds can be cross-cutting and blind.
To determine the type of damage possible without using any diagnostic equipment. However, in order to understand how badly damaged the nerve tissue, may require such studies as CT or MRI, and radiography.
Symptoms
Contusion, which occurred after a trauma, almost always accompanied by manifestations of spinal shock. The victim observed temporary paresis and paralysis, disruption of the pelvic organs, especially the bladder, and the violation of some other body functions. Can suffer sweating, high appears or, conversely, low body temperature, impaired reflexes.
Signs of spinal shock can last hours to several days and then gradually pass. However, there is a great danger that will remain very different residual effects, many of which to cure will not happen. After the symptoms of residual effects will be diagnosed, we can talk about the forecast. While there is spinal shock, to speak about forecasts of the disease is quite difficult.
The most severe symptoms appear during the first hours after the incident. This suggests that the position of the spinal cord in the spinal column was broken. And only in the most rare cases, the progression of symptoms observed in the future. Most often, they begin to develop due to increasing edema of soft tissues, which every day becomes more and compresses the nervous tissue, and hemorrhage, which is developing a large bruise, which is also the cause of the compression. All without treatment leads to an increase in symptoms of concussion.
During examination of the patient in the first few hours after the incident, determine whether the clinic is complete transverse lesions of the spinal cord, or there is only partial loss of its functions.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is performed in several stages. The first is a survey of the victim or witnesses about how the injury. This is followed by inspection and palpation, and then a neurological examination. If necessary, use instrumental methods – it can be spondylography, lumbar puncture, CT or MRI, angiography.
During the interview you should find out exactly where the localized pain, whether motor or sensory disorders, could the victim immediately after the injury, move his arms and legs. During the conversation, you need to clarify the complaint. The only way to understand whether the injured and other organs.
According to the survey results and conducted research to determine whether there is compression of the spinal cord and blood vessels, and shows whether the victim surgical treatment, or it will be only conservative methods.
Treatment
Surgical treatment is carried out only if there are signs of worsening of neurological symptoms, there is a deformation of the spinal canal or signs of compression of the large vessels in the presence of an unstable fracture can cause spinal cord compression.
For surgery there are contraindications. It’s a shock as traumatic and hemorrhagic, internal injuries, traumatic brain injury, severe, fat embolism and other embolism.
