Penetrating spinal injury: reports of two cases

Penetrating spinal cord injuries caused by stab wounds are rare. Such injuries may result from a direct lesion of the neural elements of the spinal cord, cord infarcts or, more rarely, intradural or epidural hematoma. In the present study, two cases with spinal cord and L4 root injuries caused by a knife are presented. The first case, a 22-year-old male, referred to our emergency outpatient clinic with a stab wound injury at the mid-section of his back. Neurological examination of this patient showed paraplegia, and spinal MRI displayed a total spinal cord lesion at the T7-T8 level. The wound was primarily sutured; however, during follow-up, CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) leakage continued and the patient was operated. The ruptured dura mater was primarily sutured in a surgical intervention that involved T7-T8 total laminectomy. The second patient referred to our emergency outpatient clinic with a torso injury caused by a sharp knife. The knife was embedded 2-3 cm deep at the wound site at the L3 level and the handle was broken. The patient was immediately operated and the broken and embedded metallic part of the knife was extracted.