Spinal gunshot wounds: A retrospective, multicenter, cohort study

Introduction and objective

To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics and treatment of patients with spinal gunshot wounds across Latin America.

Material and methods

Retrospective, multicenter cohort study of patients treated for gunshot wounds to the spine spanning 12 institutions across Latin America between January 2015 and January 2022. Demographic and clinical data were recorded, including the time of injury, initial assessment, characteristics of the vertebral gunshot injury, and treatment.

Results

Data on 423 patients with spinal gunshot injuries were extracted from institutions in Mexico (82%), Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. Patients were predominantly male civilians in low-risk-of-violence professions, and of lower/middle social status, and a sizeable majority of gunshots were from low-energy firearms. Vertebral injuries mainly affected the thoracic and lumbar spine. Neurological injury was documented in n = 320 (76%) patients, with spinal cord injuries in 269 (63%). Treatment was largely conservative, with just 90 (21%) patients treated surgically, principally using posterior open midline approach to the spine (n = 79; 87%). Injury features distinguishing surgical from non-surgical cases were neurological compromise (p = 0.004), canal compromise (p < 0.001), dirty wounds (p < 0.001), bullet or bone fragment remains in the spinal canal (p < 0.001) and injury pattern (p < 0.001). After a multivariate analysis through a binary logistic regression model, the aforementioned variables remained statistically significant except neurological compromise.

Conclusions

In this multicenter study of spinal gunshot victims, most were treated non-surgically, despite neurological injury in 76% and spinal injury in 63% of patients.