Spine Trauma in Children in Earthquakes

Chapter
First Online:

Abstract

Spine trauma in children after earthquakes is less frequent than limb fractures and head injuries but is considered the most severe type of trauma. Often times, spine trauma is accompanied by a shock and impairment of movement. Pretty often, it causes disability. According to Rathore M.F. et al. [20], out of 187 hospitalized patients who were admitted to spinal injury units after the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, 89 % were paraplegic. There are very few publications regarding spinal trauma in children and even in adults, sustained during earthquakes. Compared to adults, a child’s spine is more elastic and flexible. It is more resistant to fractures, but its excessive bending and unbending may cause overstretching of the spinal cord and, consequently, impairment of circulation in the spine, with no radiographic signs of damage of bone structures [11, 12, 20, 26].

Keywords

Spinal Cord Spinal Cord Injury Spinal Injury Cervical Spine Injury Spinal Trauma 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. 1.
    Djalali A, Khankeh H, Öhlén G, Castrén M, Kurland L. Facilitators and obstacles in pre-hospital medical response to earthquakes. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2011;19:30. doi: 10.1186/1757-7241-19-30.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Ahrari MN, Zangiabadi N, Asadi A, Sarafi NA. Prevalence and distribution of peripheral nerve injuries in victims of Bam earthquake. Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol. 2006;46(1):59–62.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Ralph J Marino, Tarcisio Barros, Fin Biering-Sorensen, Stephen Burns, William Donovan, Daniel E Graves, Michael Haak, Lesley Hudson, Michael Priebe, ASIA Neurological Standards Committee 2002. International standards for neurological classification of spinal cord injury. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 2002–12–31.Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Bouras T, Stranjalis G, Korfias S, Andrianakis I, Pitaridis M, Sakas DE. Head injury mortality in a geriatric population: differentiating an “edge” age group with better potential for benefit than older poor-prognosis patients. J Neurotrauma. 2007;24:1355–61.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Denis F. The three-column spine and its significance in the classification of acute thoracolumbar spinal injuries. Spine. 1983;8:817–31.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Dietrich AM, Ginn-Pease ME, Bartkowski HM, King DR. Pediatric cervical spine fractures: predominantly subtle presentation. J Pediatr Surg. 1991;26(8):995–9.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Dong ZH, Yang ZG, Chen TW, Chu ZG, Wang QL, Deng W, Denor JC. Earthquake-related versus non-earthquake-related injuries in spinal injury patients: differentiation with multidetector computed tomography. Crit Care. 2010;14(6):R236.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Valiullina SA, Kuzminova TA, Mamontova NA, Lukjanov VI, Chernyshov MA. Functional technologies in rehabilitation of children with compression fractures of the spine. WFNR Congress, Proceedings, Merano, Italy; 2011. p. 39–41.Google Scholar
  9. 9.
    Ghabili K, Golzari SE, Salehpour F, Imani T, Bazzazi AM, Ghaffari A, Khanli HM, Tizro P, Taghizade S, Shakouri SK. Spinal injuries in the 2012 twin earthquakes, northwest Iran. PLoS Curr. 2013 Mar 27, 5.Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Hasler RM1, Exadaktylos AK, Bouamra O, Benneker LM, Clancy M, Sieber R, Zimmermann H, Lecky F. Epidemiology and predictors of cervical spine injury in adult major trauma patients: a multicenter cohort study. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2012 Apr;72(4):975–81.Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    Haffner DL, Hoffer MM, Wiedbusch R. Etiology of children’s spinal injuries at Rancho Los Amigos. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1993;18(6):679–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Hamilton MG, Myles ST. Pediatric spinal injury: review of 174 hospital admissions. J Neurosurg. 1992;77(5):700–4.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Holte DC, O’Brien JP, Renton P. Anterior lumbar fusion using a hybrid interbody graft. A preliminary radiographic report. Eur Spine J. 1994;3(1):32–8.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Wen J, Shi YK, Li YP, Wang L, Cheng L, Gao Z, Li L. Risk factors of earthquake in patient death: a case control study. Critical Care. 2009;13:R24. doi: 10.1186/cc7729.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Keshkar S, Kumar R, Bharti BB. Epidemiology and impact of early rehabilitation of spinal trauma after the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, India. Int Orthop. 2014;38(10):2143–7. doi: 10.1007/s00264-014-2431-x. Epub 2014 Jul 4.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Liang NJ, Shih YT, Shih FY, Wu HM, Wang HJ, Shi SF, Liu MY, Wang BB. Disaster Epidemiology and Medical Response in the Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;38(5):549–55. doi: 10.1067/mem.2001.118999.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Magerl F, Aebi M, Gertzbein SD, Harms J, Nazarian S. A comprehensive classification of thoracic and lumbar injures. Eur Spine J. 1994;3(4):184–201.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    Kuzminova NA, Iskhakov OS, Machalov VA. Methodological approach in early physical rehabilitation of children with spinal cord injury. Proceedings of International scientific conference on neurorehabilitation in neurosurgery. Moscow, 2012. p. 67–8. Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    Kuzminova NA, Iskhakov OS, Valiullina SA. Methodological approach in the early rehabilitation of children with spinal injury. Modern technologies of surgical treatment of deformities and vertebral diseases: III Congress of surgeons-spine specialists of Russia. St. Peterburg; 2012. p. 92–3.Google Scholar
  20. 20.
    Rathore MF, Rashid P, Butt AW, Malik AA, Gill ZA, Haig AJ. Epidemiology of spinal cord injuries in the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Spinal Cord. 2007;45(10):658–63. Epub 2007 Jan 16. PMID:17228354.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Reddy SP, Junewick JJ, Backstrom JW. Distribution of spinal fractures in children: does age, mechanism of injury, or gender play a significant role? Pediatric Radiol. 2003;33(11):776–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Sabzehchian M, Abolghasemi H, Radfar MH, Jonaidi-Jafari N, Ghasemzadeh H, Burkle Jr FM. Pediatric trauma at tertiary-level hospitals in the aftermath of the Bam, Iran Earthquake. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2006;21(5):336–9.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  23. 23.
    Chernobrov V, Petukhov A, Sobolev IA, In Book: The ABCs of survival. Veche, M., Veche. Stalker s guide. The ABCs of survival. 2006. 384c.Google Scholar
  24. 24.
    Viccellio P, Simon H, Pressman BD, Shah MN, Mower WR, Hoffman JR, NEXUS Group. A prospective multicenter study of cervical spine injury in children. Pediatrics. 2001;108(2):E20.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  25. 25.
    Vaccaro A, Pizzutillo P. Management of pediatric spinal cord injury patients. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1998.Google Scholar
  26. 26.
    Vinchon M, Dhellemmes P. Traumatic spine injury in childhood. In Book: Essential practice of neurosurgery; ed: Kalangu K, Kata Y, Dechambenoit G. Copyright 2011 by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies. p. 1310–26.Google Scholar
  27. 27.
    Wen H, Reinhardt JD, Gosney JE, Baumberger M, Zhang X, Li J. Spinal cord injury-related chronic pain in victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake: a prospective cohort study. Spinal Cord. 2013;51(11):857–62. doi: 10.1038/sc.2013.59.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • O. Iskhakov
    • 1
  • S. Mescheryakov
    • 1
  • Leonid M. Roshal
    • 1
  1. 1.Clinical and Research Institute of Urgent Pediatric Surgery and TraumaMoscowRussia

Personalised recommendations