Analysis of mortality of patients after cervical spine trauma.

An analysis of 167 deaths occurring among 1000 patients with cervical spine trauma, treated in the early post-traumatic period in the Rehabilitation Institute at Konstancin, has been carried out in this report. The high percentage of deaths is caused by the great number of elderly patients suffering from other illnesses, a large group with complete spinal cord injury, many cases of high cervical trauma (above C5) and by injuries of other organs, in particular of the skull and chest. We believe that the improvement of general health care in the country taking place in Poland lately, together with the progress in treatment of spinal cord trauma, will bring about a considerable decrease in mortality in the immediate future.