Spinal cord injury (SCI) can be caused by either traumatic injuries or nontraumatic causes. Patients with severe SCI will suffer perpetual loss in sensation and motion ability. Complete recovery of severe SCI is still difficult. Patients with SCI may develop both physical and psychological dysfunctions, that are a part of a lifelong disability and come with economic consequences.
Many injuries can result in SCI. On a global level, the leading causes in most regions are cervical SCI due to falls and road traffic accidents.
Curacao is an island of about 150.000 inhabitants. It is known to have high burden of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, kidney disease and diabetes. Daily, high energetic traumas present at the emergency department of Curacao Medical Center. An earlier study performed by the same department showed a staggering incidence of degenerative cervical spine disease with spinal cord injury in the country.
The results of a retrospective descriptive study performed on all SCI patients at the neurosurgical/ neurology department in Curaçao will be presented.