“Rehabilitation outcome of spinal fixation to the paraplegic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients in Bangladesh.”

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the rehabilitation outcome of spinal fixation to the paraplegic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients in Bangladesh. Objectives: To explore the socio-demography ( age, male& female ratio, occupation, educational background, religion, family types, smoking habit, economical status, marital status, residential area) and also injury related questions like- duration of injury, date of admission, date of discharge, length of hospital stay and cause of injury of the affected group, to measure the rehabilitation outcome of the SCI patients especially the patients of paraplegic spinal cord injury with spinal fixation, their functional independent during admission and after the completing of rehabilitation process. Methodology: The study design was Quasi-experimental quantitative study. The sample size were 30 and hospital based simple random sampling technique was used for sample selection from inpatient of Centre for the Rehabilitation of the paralysed (CRP) in Bangladesh which is the largest spinal cord injury rehabilitation centre in South Asia. Motor score was measured by Oxford Muscle Grade Scale, sensory score was measured by Sensory Grading Scale and neurological level, skeletal level and ASIA scale was measured by using ASIA assessment and also functional outcome data was collected by Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scale and data was measured two times during admission and after completing rehabilitation services. All data was analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software version 20.0. Result: The finding of the study was that among 30 participants 90% were male most of participants were 11-25 years 46.7% and female participants were 10% where 23.3% (n=7) completed their primary education. Most of them about 86.7% (n=26) lived in rural area. According to Wilcoxon Signed rank test (post-test – pre-test) ASIA scale z= -2.428 and p=0.015 which was less than < 0.05 where total Functional Independence Measure z= - 4.784 and p=0.000 which was significant. Conclusion: The results of this study provided more insight into the rehabilitation outcome along with functional outcome of a group of paraplegic spinal cord injury patients with spinal fixation. More research is needed to evaluate the rehabilitation program for these patients. Key words: Spinal cord injury (paraplegic), Spinal fixation, Rehabilitation