The damage from primary and secondary insults of spinal cord injury can result in various hemodynamic alterations. It is important to understand the presentation and time course of these changes, in addition to the management of each, to avoid further clinical deterioration and complications.

Traumatic spinal cord injury has an incidence of 10,000 cases per year with a prevalence of approximately 200,000 people in the United States.1 These numbers do not account for deaths in the field, which are estimated to occur in 16% to 30% of these cases. The patient demographics mirror that of the general trauma population with the average age around 30 years and a male predominance. Although motor vehicle collisions account for roughly half of all spinal cord injury cases, other events including assaults, falls, work-place injuries, and sporting accidents account for a large portion of the rest.2
Pathophysiology Continue Reading »

Francesco Clark was an athletic, 24-year-old fashion assistant at Harper’s Bazaar who dreamed of one day becoming editor in chief of GQ magazine.

Then he dove into a swimming pool on a June evening in 2002 and broke his neck.

The paralyzing injury put him in a wheelchair, but it also affected his body in ways unexpected. Continue Reading »