A Retrospective Study on the Incidence of Pulmonary Embolism in Immobilized Spinal Cord Injury Patients

Introduction The development of pulmonary embolism (PE) remains the main cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with spinal cord injuries. Multiple factors have been identified to predict the presence of PE in spinal cord injury patients, however, local data is scarce. The objective of this study is to evaluate the incidence of PE among spinal cord injury patients and analysis of predictive risk factors. Material and methods This is a retrospective study among spinal cord injury patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Malaysia between January 2018 and December 2019. All spinal cord injury patients with symptoms suggestive of venous thromboembolism (VTE) such as tachycardia and shortness of breath were included in this study. Demographic data such as age, gender, types of VTE prophylaxis (mechanical or chemical), and radiological findings of computerized tomography pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) were analyzed. Results A total of 373 patients were included in the study. 301 of them have undergone spinal surgery. There were 251 males (75.75%) and 124 females (33.24%). The mean age of the subjects was 48.63 ± 17.45 years. The mean length of hospital stay is 42.74 ± 41.51 days. 151 (40.48%) patients received DVT prophylaxis while 222 (59.52%) patients did not. The incidence of PE among spinal cord injury patients with VTE symptoms is 25 patients (6.70%). Of that, 15 patients received medical treatment only, seven received mechanical and pharmacological prophylaxis and three did not receive any prophylaxis. In the variable analyses, none of the variables (age and types of prophylaxis) could significantly predict the occurrence of VTE. Conclusion PE is a frequent complication in immobilized spinal cord injury patients despite receiving thromboprophylaxis treatment. No strong predictors for PE were identified in the present study. However, patients who received any type of thromboprophylaxis was found to be statistically significant when compared to patients who did not receive any thromboprophylaxis in term of the presence of PE.