Medical complications of spinal cord injury.

Recent medical advances have greatly improved the prognosis for people who sustain spinal cord injury (about 10 000 people initially survive spinal cord injury each year in the US). Physicians may become involved with the acute care of spinal cord injured persons or care for complications which develop later. Certain conditions such as heterotopic bone formation and autonomic dysreflexia are seen almost exclusively in this group of patients; other complications such as urinary tract and soft tissue infections occur quite often. Common medical complications of spinal cord injured persons are reviewed, as well as their diagnosis and treatment.