Fifty years on fundamentals in spinal cord injury care are still important.

The fundamentals of care in spinal cord injury were laid down many years ago. Prevention----therapy----follow up is basic in medicine. In spinal cord injury, admission to a comprehensive unit then application of simple, repetitive disciplines for patient and staff, and education are the fundamentals to be emphasised.

Update on spinal cord paralysis. A preventable injury, a surgical challenge?

Spinal cord injuries will not disappear, but the incidence can be reduced. A reduction of up to 50% of spinal cord injury cases is, in the opinion of Menzies' seminar participants, practical and possible but will only occur if the subject is accepted as a major challenge in the surgical world. Great advances in spinal cord injury care were made by surgeons.

Spontaneous resolution of spinal canal deformity after burst-dispersion fracture.

We reviewed the records of 28 patients with 30 burst-dispersion spinal fractures treated since the introduction of CT facilities in Western Australia. Twenty-five patients showed spinal canal deformity and stenosis with bone fragments protruding into the canal on the initial scan. Of these, 22 patients were treated nonsurgically.