Spinal cord injury caused by gunshot wounds: the cost of rehabilitation.

The current authors did a retrospective review of the medical records of 47 patients with spinal cord injury secondary to gunshot wounds who were admitted to National Rehabilitation Hospital between 1993 and 1999. There were 44 male patients and three female patients; the mean age of the patients was 24.7 years (range, 15-56 years). Thirty-seven patients had paraplegia (27 had complete paraplegia, 10 had incomplete paraplegia) as a result of their gunshot wounds, and 10 had quadriplegia (eight had complete quadriplegia, two had incomplete quadriplegia). None of the weapons were identified. The most common firearm types were low-velocity weapons. The length of acute hospitalization increased with the number of associated injuries. Rehabilitation total length of stay was proportional to the injury classification (paraplegia, quadriplegia). The daily occupancy fee in the National Rehabilitation Hospital was approximately 1900 US dollars. Patients were admitted to the hospital when acute medical and surgical problems had been cleared and when they were ready to participate in rehabilitation and therapy.