Spine surgeon traumatic spinal cord injury practice differences based on years of practice.
| Practice Regarding Spinal Cord Injuries | Years You Have Been in Practice | P Value | |||||
| <5 y | 5–10 y | >10 y | |||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | ||
| Your practice regarding giving STEROIDS in acute spinal cord–injured patient | 0.657 | ||||||
| I never give steroids | 12 | 52.2% | 7 | 35.0% | 24 | 43.6% | |
| I give if injury is less than 8 h | 5 | 21.7% | 4 | 20.0% | 14 | 25.5% | |
| I give if injury is less than 24 h | 3 | 13.0% | 5 | 25.0% | 13 | 23.6% | |
| I give regardless of time of injury | 3 | 13.0% | 4 | 20.0% | 4 | 7.3% | |
| If you give steroids, how long you keep patient on it? | 0.011a | ||||||
| 1 dose | 0 | 0.0% | 1 | 7.7% | 6 | 19.4% | |
| Up to 12 h | 1 | 9.1% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | |
| Up to 24 h | 3 | 27.3% | 3 | 23.1% | 18 | 58.1% | |
| Up to 48 h | 7 | 63.6% | 9 | 69.2% | 7 | 22.6% | |
| Steroid medication administered | 0.168 | ||||||
| Dexamethasone | 6 | 54.5% | 7 | 53.8% | 9 | 29.0% | |
| Methylprednisolone sodium succinate | 5 | 45.5% | 6 | 46.2% | 22 | 71.0% | |
| Do you admit isolated spinal cord injury patients in high-dependency unit? | 0.049a | ||||||
| Yes, all of them | 14 | 60.9% | 7 | 35.0% | 13 | 23.6% | |
| Only cervical cord injury | 7 | 30.4% | 7 | 35.0% | 26 | 47.3% | |
| Depends on availability of beds | 2 | 8.7% | 3 | 15.0% | 11 | 20.0% | |
| None of them | 0 | 0.0% | 3 | 15.0% | 5 | 9.1% | |
| Do you aim to keep the mean arterial pressure in a certain range? | 0.279 | ||||||
| Yes | 21 | 91.3% | 15 | 75.0% | 42 | 76.4% | |
| No | 2 | 8.7% | 5 | 25.0% | 13 | 23.6% | |
| Do you try to do early decompression? | 0.390 | ||||||
| I always do decompression in less than 24 h of the injury | 18 | 78.3% | 11 | 55.0% | 29 | 52.7% | |
| I believe in early decompression, but the facility does not allow this practice | 2 | 8.7% | 3 | 15.0% | 11 | 20.0% | |
| Whenever operating room time is available | 3 | 13.0% | 3 | 15.0% | 9 | 16.4% | |
| I don’t believe early decompression adds neurological benefit | 0 | 0.0% | 3 | 15.0% | 6 | 10.9% | |
↵a P < 0.05 (significant).