Clinical experience in rehabilitation of spinal cord injury associated with schizophrenia

Clinical-evolutive particularities and the main rehabilitation difficulties in a patient with schizophrenia who suffered from a TSCI by falling from height (affirmative suicidal attempt)- a case report

Introduction. Schizophrenia is a surprisingly common chronic psychiatric illness in the general population affecting 1 in 100 people worldwide. Although the symptoms widely differ from one case to another, schizophrenia is quite difficult to recognize because the patient can behave normally and appropriately in different social situations. Studies in the literature highlight that the majority of the patients with SCI and pre-existing schizophrenia have suffered accidents as a result of voluntary height adjustments. Also, 37.5% of the suicide attempts with SCI are caused by schizophrenia and depression. The main difficulties encountered in the recovery of these patients are the psychiatric manifestations. At the same time, the risk of suicide in patients with schizophrenia after suffering from SCI is higher than those with SCI without schizophrenia. Therefore, the recovery of the patients with SCI and schizophrenia is a complex process which requires the control of the psychiatric symptoms. A multidisciplinary team is required for such a purpose. Material and method. Having the patient's consent and approval of the Ethics Committee of “Bagdasar-Arseni” Clinical Emergency Hospital, N.O. 3159/30.01.2020, the paper presents the case of a 23-year-old female patient with AIS/ Frankel B flaccid paraplegia after TVML after falling from height (affirmative through window-suicide attempt) operated on, in a polytraumatic context. The patient is known with schizophrenia and she was being monitored by a psychiatrist at the time of the accident, but she voluntarily discontinued treatment during that period. The patient was clinically and functionally evaluated, according to the standardized protocols implemented in our clinic, through the assessment scales (ASIA, FIM, FAC, QoL, Ashworth and Penn) and also paraclinically, in order to evaluate her biological reserve and her bearing availability of the recovery program. Results and discussions. The patient presented a slowly favorable evolution (slowed down by her severe motor deficit, but also by her psychiatric symptoms such as affective ability with depressive, negative behavior, depersonalization). Conclusions. The main difficulties encountered in the recovery of these patients are the psychiatric manifestations. Therefore, the recovery of patients with SCI and schizophrenia is a complex process that first requires the control of psychiatric symptoms. A multidisciplinary team is required for such a purpose. Keywords: Schizophrenia, spinal cord injury, multidisciplinary, suicide attempt, rehabilitation,