OBJECTIVE: to evaluate spinal cord injury patients surgically treated at the Hospital Estadual de Francisco Morato "Professor Carlos da Silva Lacaz". METHODS: a retrospective study was performed with medical records of spinal cord injury patients surgically treated at the hospital, from May 2005 to December 2008. Their clinical and epidemiological characteristics, from hospital admission to discharge, were studied. RESULTS: 69 cases were reviewed. There was male prevalence (72.7%), with age varying from 30 to 40 years (34.1%). According to localization, spinal cord injury was: cervical in 25 cases (36%), thoracic in 10 (14.4%), thoraco-lumbar in 28 (40.5%) and lumbar in 6 (8.6%). Most of these patients were neurologically intact (56.6%), with thoraco-lumbar spine trauma (40.5%). Glasgow Outcome Scale of 5 was observed in 71% of these patients. The main cause of spinal cord injury was flagstone falling, in 34.8% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: spinal cord injury, in our service, was generally due to flagstone falling, in economically active young males, in the thoracolumbar or cervical spine. The identification of these data allows the creation of rational interventions with great impact and resources for the treatment of these occurrences.
Spinal injuries; Wounds and injuries
