Citation

Dong ZH, Yang ZG, Chen TW, Chu ZG, Wang QL, Deng W, Denor JC. Crit. Care 2010; 14(6): R236.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/cc9391

PMID

21190568

PMCID

PMC3220027

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, several massive earthquakes have occurred across the globe. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) is reliable in detecting spinal injuries. The purpose of this study was to compare the features of spinal injuries in the Sichuan earthquake with those of non-earthquake trauma using MDCT. METHODS: Features of spinal injuries of 223 Sichuan-earthquake-exposed patients and 223 non-earthquake patients were retrospectively compared using MDCT. The date of non-earthquake related patients was collected from May 1 to July 22, 2009 to avoid the confounding effect of seasonal activity and clothing. We focused on anatomic sites, injury types and neurologic deficits of spinal injuries. Major injuries were classified according to the grid 3-3-3 scheme of Magerl (AO) classifications. RESULTS: 185 patients (82.96%) suffered from crush injuries in the earthquake-exposed cohort. 65 and 92 patients had neurologic deficits in the earthquake and control group, respectively. The anatomic distribution of these two cohorts was significantly different (p<0.001). Cervical spinal injuries were more common in the control group (Risk ratio, RR=2.12, p<0.001), whereas lumbar spinal injuries were more common in the earthquake group (277, 55.29% of the 501 injured vertebras). The major types of injuries were significantly different between these cohorts (p=0.002). Type A lesions composed most of the lesions seen in both of these cohorts. Type B lesions were more frequently seen in earthquake-related injuries (RR=1.27), while we observed Type C lesions more frequently in subjects with non-earthquake injuries (RR=1.98, p=0.0029). CONCLUSIONS: Spinal injuries in Sichuan earthquake were located mainly in the lumbar spine with a peak prevalence of type A lesions and high occurrence of neurologic deficits. The anatomic distribution and type of spinal injuries that varied between earthquake and non-earthquake groups were perhaps due to different mechanism of injury.

Language: en