ABSTRACT
STUDY DESIGN: Prospective observational study. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of symptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in earthquake survivors with spinal cord injury (SCI). SETTINGS: Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in the months after the October 2005 earthquake. METHODS: Earthquake survivors (n=187) with acute SCI were enrolled after verbal informed consent. Information on mechanism of injury, mode of evacuation, associated injuries was gathered, and a detailed clinical and radiological assessment was performed. They were followed for 10 weeks for clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of DVT. Case with clinical suspicion of a DVT underwent a duplex scan of both legs to confirm the diagnosis. The influence of age, gender, American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grade and lower limb fractures on occurrence of DVT was determined. RESULTS: There were 80 men and 107 women with a mean age of 28.3+/-12.4 years. Seventeen patients were clinically suspected to have a DVT and ultrasound was positive in nine (4.8%). There was no influence of age (P=0.4), gender (P=0.4), ASIA grade (P=0.1) or presence of a lower limb fracture (P=0.6) on the occurrence of a DVT. CONCLUSION: This study adds further evidence to support the belief that the incidence of DVT in Southeast Asian patients with an SCI is lower than the reported incidence in the West. It may not be necessary to apply the recommendations for DVT prophylaxis in Caucasians with SCI to other groups, including Southeast Asians.
