Emergency Medicine Book

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Spinal Shock

Aka: Spinal Shock
  1. See Also
    1. Neurogenic Shock
    2. Spinal Cord Syndrome
    3. Cervical Spine Injury
    4. Thoracolumbar Trauma
  2. Pathophysiology
    1. Muscle tone loss (flaccid paralysis) and Deep Tendon Reflex loss after spinal cord injury
    2. Spinal "Shock" is a misnomer as it refers to a "shock" to the spinal nerves, not a true shock syndrome
      1. Contrast with Neurogenic Shock, which is a distributive shock from sympathetic dysfunction
  3. Signs
    1. Perianal reflex absent
    2. Neurologic function absent below the level of the spinal lesion
      1. Flaccid paralysis below the spinal lesion
      2. Deep Tendon Reflexes absent below the spinal lesion
  4. Precautions: Pitfalls
    1. Intercostal muscle paralysis (hypoventilation)
    2. Anesthesia below lesion
      1. Hidden injuries (e.g. Acute Abdomen without pain)
    3. Transiently shocked spinal cord
      1. Immobilize immediately
  5. Management
    1. Immobilize spine with Cervical Collar and Backboard with head blocks and all straps
    2. Frequent ABC evaluation
    3. Careful secondary Trauma survey
    4. Emergent spine surgery Consultation
  6. References
    1. (2012) ATLS, ACOS, p. 179-80

Spinal shock (C0597503)

Definition (CSP) a loss of spinal reflexes after an injury of the spinal cord which affects the muscles innervated by the cord segments situated below the site of the lesion.
Concepts Injury or Poisoning (T037)
Italian Shock spinale
Japanese 脊髄ショック, ｾｷｽﾞｲｼｮｯｸ
English spinal shock, spinal shock (diagnosis), shock spinal, Spinal shock, shock; spinal, spinal; shock
Czech Míšní šok
Hungarian Spinalis shock
Dutch shock; spinaal, spinaal; shock, spinale shock
Portuguese Choque espinhal
Spanish Parálisis espinal
French Choc spinal
German spinaler Schock
Sources
Derived from the NIH UMLS (Unified Medical Language System)


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