A predictive model of motor deficit in civilian ballistic lumbosacral spine injuries

BACKGROUND CONTEXT

Civilian gunshot wounds to the spine are an increasingly common injury in the USA. A majority of the available research is focused on a military population suffering high energy missile injury. Minimal research has focused on civilian ballistic injuries to the lumbosacral spine as the available studies focus on the entire spine due to limited numbers.

PURPOSE

Characterize ballistic injuries to the lumbosacral spine and develop a model to predict the presence of neurological deficit based upon a patients presenting fracture morphology.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective chart review.

PATIENT SAMPLE

One hundred forty-eight consecutive patients that were presented to an urban level 1 trauma center with ballistic injures to the spine involving the levels L1-S2.

OUTCOMES MEASURES

Neurological status at presentation and final follow up using the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale.

METHODS

IRB approval was obtained, and retrospective chart review was performed. Extracted data included patient demographics, neurological status on presentation and final follow-up, fracture morphology, assessment of stability, other associated injuries, and surgical procedures performed. Proportional analysis was performed to characterize the fractures and their associated neurological injuries. Chi-square testing was done to identify fracture characteristics associated with neurologic injury. A multiple logistical regression was performed using fracture characteristics highly associated with neurological deficit to develop a model to predict neurologic deficit. The model was then validated with a receiver operator curve.

RESULTS

Of the 148 patients, 14 patients underwent spinal surgery with the most common indication being decompression and foreign body removal. There was a high incidence of intra-abdominal injury (73.6%). Fractures were characterized by level, affected vertebral component, and spinal canal involvement. Neurological injury was classified using the ASIA scale at presentation and final follow up. Odds-ratios of vertebral fracture characteristics showed neurologic deficit was highly associated with pedicle fractures (OR=9.07 [4.14-21.54] - 95% CI), lamina fractures (OR=6.42 [3.16-13.62] - 95% CI), facet fractures (OR=5.95 [2.90-12.79] - 95% CI), intra-canal bone (OR=12.79 [5.98-29.05] - 95% CI), and an intra-canal trajectory (OR=1078 [4.48-28.98]) - 95% CI. Multiple logistic regression was performed to construct a predictive model of neurologic deficit which showed that intra-canal trajectory, pedicle fracture and facet fracture are associated with neurologic deficit. An ROC curve was made with an area of 0.849 ([0.7853 to 0.9128 - 95% CI], p<.0001) demonstrating a good model fit.

CONCLUSIONS

Ballistic injuries to the lumbosacral spine involve complex injury patterns in an often polytraumatized patient. Fractures involving the pedicle, lamina, and facet are highly associated with neurologic injury, as is a trans-canal trajectory. A patients fracture morphology can be used to predict if a neurologic deficit is present.

A Penetrating Lumbar Spine Injury With Misleading Neurological Symptoms

Penetrating spinal injuries require specific neurosurgical attention. To date, there are no guidelines regarding emergency neurosurgical management of such injuries and the decision whether to operate is made individually, based on the neurological examination and the analysis of any imaging available. We report the case of a 22-year-old patient who sustained two gunshots in the thighs and one in the lumbar spine. Clinical examination revealed neurological deficit in both legs prevailing on the right side. Discussion between the radiologist and the neurosurgeon concluded to an injury to the left S1 nerve root within the spinal canal, and to the right sciatic nerve. Thus, there was no need for a decompressive laminectomy. In the light of the current literature, penetrating spinal injuries rarely require an extensive surgical exploration; indications for such a procedure include incomplete neurological deficit with persistent neurological compression, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, and obvious instability. Furthermore, penetrating spinal injuries are rarely encountered, even for military neurosurgeons. Their surgical management and especially the need for laminectomy, stabilization, and dural sac watertight closure are still a matter of debate. An expert consensus statement would give food to surgeons facing penetrating spinal injuries.

[Endoscopic treatment of mine-explosive spine injuries: 3 clinical cases and literature review]

Modern warfare is characterized by common mine-explosive injuries. The last ones are accompanied by multiple injuries, large area of damage and severe clinical status of victims.

OBJECTIVE

To demonstrate treatment of mine-explosive spinal injuries using modern minimally invasive endoscopic techniques.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The authors present 3 victims with various mine-explosive injuries. Endoscopic removal of fragments from the lumbar and cervical spine was successful in all cases.

DISCUSSION

Most of victims with injuries of the spine and spinal cord do not require urgent surgery and can underwent surgical treatment after clinical stabilization. At the same time, minimally invasive techniques provide surgical treatment with minimal risk and earlier rehabilitation, as well as reduce the risk of infectious complications associated with foreign bodies.

CONCLUSION

Careful selection of patients for spinal video endoscopy will ensure positive outcomes. Minimization of iatrogenic postoperative injuries is especially important in patients with combined trauma. However, well-experienced surgeons should perform these procedures at the stage of specialized medical care.

Minimally invasive retrieval of a bullet settling into the thoracic spinal canal in a pediatric patient: A case report

A 10-year-old boy presented to neurosurgery department after a gunshot wound to the upper thoracic spine. The bullet entered through the right deltoid muscle and lodged inside the spinal canal at T1 level. The patient arrived conscious and obeying commands; however, he experienced a loss of sensation below T3 level, loss of reflexes below the injured T1 level, loss of anal sphincter tone and paraplegia in the lower limbs (American Spinal Injury Association grade-A). Imaging studies revealed an intra-canalicular metallic bullet at the T1 level. The patient underwent urgent operation using a tubular retractor system and the microscope. Subsequently, the bullet was successfully retrieved. Postoperatively, the patient made a significant recovery and by the end of the 6th month, he was able to walk independently despite some gait instability. A minimally invasive approach for intra-canalicular bullet removal in the thoracic region is a safe and effective technique in pediatric patients.

Case Report: Full-Endoscopic Surgery for Bullet Wounds of the Spine: A Report of Three Cases

Objectives

To determine the feasibility and evaluate effectiveness of full-endoscopic surgery in gunshot wound of the spine.

Methods

Three clinical cases of lumbar and thoracic spine bullet wounds made by firearms and traumatic weapons are described. Percutaneous endoscopic surgery was performed to extract bullet from the spinal canal. The results are compared to the data from literature.

Results

Percutaneous endoscopic approach to spinal canal with a possibility to extract a bullet, decompression of nerve roots, defect closure of the dura mater is demonstrated.

Conclusion

Good clinical outcomes allows to recommend percutaneous endoscopic surgery to manage similar lumbar and thoracic spine bullet wounds at the tertiary care level.

Management of cerebrospinal fluid leak from cervical gunshot wounds with external ventricular drainage: a small case series

Historically, the surgical management of gunshot wounds to the spine has been controversial. Repair of a persistent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak is a generally agreed upon indication. The management of such CSF leaks typically involves lumbar drainage or direct surgical repair. Here, the authors report two cases of CSF diversion with an external ventricular drain (EVD) in patients with cervical gunshot wounds. Both patients had spinal canal obliteration or physiologic myelographic block at or below the level of injury. To the best of the author’s knowledge, these are the first two reports of successful EVD treatment of persistent CSF leaks related cervical gunshot wounds. The authors also propose a CSF treatment algorithm for cervical gunshot wounds that includes EVD.

Resolution of cauda equina syndrome after surgical extraction of lumbar intrathecal bullet

Background:

Gunshot wound (GSW) injuries to the spinal column are correlated with potentially severe neurological damage. Here, we describe a GSW to the thoracolumbar junction (e.g., T12/L1 level) which resulted in a cauda equina syndrome that resolved once the bullet was removed.

Case Description:

A 29-year-old male presented with a T12-L1 GSW; the bullet traversed the right chest and liver, entered the spinal canal at T12, and then settled at L1. He experienced excruciating burning pain in the right lower extremity/perineum and had urinary retention. On neurological examination, he exhibited severe weakness of the right iliopsoas/quadriceps (2/5) and extensor hallucis longus (1/5) which had decreased sensation in the right lower extremity in all dermatomes and urinary retention. The myelogram showed the bullet lodged intrathecally at L1; it compressed the cauda equina. Immediately after, the bullet was extracted and at 8 weeks follow-up, the patient’s right-sided motor function normalized, the sensory findings improved, and the sphincteric dysfunction resolved; the only residual deficit was minimal residual numbness in the L2-L5 distributions.

Conclusion:

Twenty percent of penetrating spinal column injuries are attributed to GSW s. The location of these injuries best determines the neurological damage and degree of recovery. Since patients with incomplete cauda equina syndromes have favorable prognoses, removal of bullets involving the T12-S1 levels may prove beneficial.