Geriatric preinjury activities of daily living function is associated with glasgow coma score and discharge disposition: a retrospective, consecutive cohort study.

The primary objective was to evaluate the associations of the Injury Severity Score (ISS), age, Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), preexisting medical conditions (PEMC), and preinjury activities of daily living (ADL) Katz score with discharge disposition in surviving geriatric trauma patients.Data were obtained from the trauma registry. The preinjury Katz ADL score was prospectively ascertained.

Development of a congestive heart failure protocol in a rehabilitation setting.

A number of patients in a rehabilitation setting were being transferred to acute-care facilities with a diagnosis of congestive heart failure (CHF). A transfer penalty was charged to the rehabilitation facility based on each patient's length of stay. A multidisciplinary team was assembled with physician support to address the problem.

Tuberculosis of the spine (Pott's disease) presenting as 'compression fractures'.

Study Design: Case reports and survey of literature.

Objective: Case reports of two women with tuberculosis (TB) of the spine (Pott's disease) presenting with severe back pain and diagnosed as compression fracture are described. Physicians should include Pott's disease in the differential diagnosis when patients present with severe back pain and evidence of vertebral collapse.

Long-term safety of pulsed irrigation evacuation (PIE) use with chronic bowel conditions.

We wanted to determine the long-term effects of pulsed irrigation evacuation on the colon. Sigmoidoscopy/colonoscopy was performed on four patients with spinal cord injuries who have used this procedure an average of 3.5 times weekly, for an average of 6.

Use of pulsed irrigation evacuation in the management of the neuropathic bowel.

Management of the neuropathic bowel is one of the major issues in the treatment of patients with severe spinal cord injury (SCI). Pulsed irrigation evacuation (PIE) has been evaluated in several small studies for the clearing of fecal impactions in patients with a neuropathic bowel. We evaluated our experience with 398 PIE procedures performed on inpatients and outpatients at our facility.