Deep venous thrombosis in patients with chronic spinal cord injury.

CONTEXT/OBJECTIVE:Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a well-known complication of an acute spinal cord injury (SCI). However, the prevalence of DVT in patients with chronic SCI has only been reported in a limited number of studies. The aim of our study was to examine the prevalence of DVT in patients with SCI beyond three months after injury. DESIGN:Cross-sectional study. SETTING:Rehabilitation Department at the Bydgoszcz University Hospital in Poland. PARTICIPANTS:Sixty-three patients with SCI that were more than 3 months post injury. The patients, ranging in age from 13 to 65 years, consisted of 15 women and 48 men; the mean age of the patients was 32.1 years. The time from injury varied from 4 to 124 months. OUTCOME MEASURES:Clinical assessment, D-dimer and venous duplex scan. RESULTS:The venous duplex scan revealed DVT in 5 of the 63 patients. The post-injury time in four of the patients varied between 4 and 5 months; one patient was 42 months post-injury. CONCLUSION:DVT occurred in patients with chronic SCI, mainly by the 6th post injury month.