Conservative Management Of Third Trimester Cervical Spinal Cord Injury Using Gardner-Wells\' Tongs Traction

Abstract

Spinal cord injury, though an important cause of morbidity appears to be uncommon in pregnant women or perhaps, has not been accurately documented among them. Superimposed on the many impairments resulting from spinal cord injury is the presence of the foetus in the womb, which in itself normally brings about intense physiological alterations in the patient. Despite the complexities, neither the pregnancy nor the spinal cord injury needs jeopardize the optimal care of the other as long as the standard protocols are followed. In the past 10 years, the University college Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria treated approximately 900 spinal cord injury patients, and only 3 of these were pregnant-an incidence of 0.30 per 90 patients per year, or 0.33%. We report here, the conservative management of one of these pregnant patients using the Gardner-Wells\' tongs traction, resulting in normal parturition and full neurological recovery.


Key Words: Spinal cord injury, Third trimester pregnancy, Gardner-Wells\' tongs traction


Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice Vol 8(1) 2005: 46-50