Prise en charge pré-hospitalière des patients victimes de traumatisme vertébro-médullaire en milieu africain.

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to describe the pre hospital care of Traumatic Spinal Cord injuries (TSI), in particular the initial clinical presentation, the method of handling the victims and their transportation to the Douala General Hospital (DGH) or Douala Laquintinie Hospital (DLH). Method: Over a period of 5 months from January to May 2013, a prospective study was done at the DGH and DLH. Were included all patients victims of TSI and were excluded those with non traumatic spinal cord damage. Results: During the period of the study, 31 patients were recruited including 25 men (80.6%) and 6 women (19.4%). The mean age of patients was 37.0±17 years. About 51.6% of TSI were due to road traffic accident. For all the patients, no clinical examination was realized at the site of accident. All patients were carried out by inadequate procedure and Taxi was the most common mode of transportation of the patients (58.1%). The majority of patients (67.7%) had been taken to at least one other hospital before arriving at the two reference hospital (DGH) or (DLH).The most common clinical presentation at the admission was Frankel A for 58.1% of case. Conclusion: there is a strong need for identifying the risk factors of TSI in our setting and to take measures to control them by disseminating information to the populations, to train paramedical staff about initial handling and transportation of victims of TSI.