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War Injuries of the Spine and Spinal Cord

1940; Oxford University Press; Volume: 16; Issue: 177 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/pgmj.16.177.247

1469-0756

Geoffrey Knight,

Trauma and Emergency Care Studies

A high proportion of the spinal injuries occurring in war time will be of the closed variety, comprising fractures and fracture dislocations of the vertebral column resulting from accidental injury.For example, from falls down the hatchway, into craters, in civilian injuries from the crush of falling masonry, or in battle from the blast of high explosive hurling patients into grotesque postures, or causing the collapse of parapets and sandbags with resulting crush and flexion injuries.Open wounds of the spine, compound fractures with or without division of the spinal cord will be met with relatively seldom, for these injuries often prove rapidly fatal, not only on account of shock and haemorrhage, but more especially from the fact that few such wounds can exist without grave associated injuries of the abdomen or chest, unless a bullet by evil chance should strike the spine exactly.In addition, there will be cases in which the symptoms of an injury of the spinal cord co-exist with adjacent lesions which have not directly involved either the cord or the vertebral column, a group which may at times produce considerable confusion.In all of these, as with injuries of the head, the associated