Comparison of Frankel Scale with Apache-II Scale in the Prediction of Early Stage Mortality of Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

Cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) is a devastating event that can cause not only motor and sensory impairments but also autonomic dysfunction. Functional and morphological changes in the autonomic nervous system can also affect the respiratory, cardiovascular, renal and gastrointestinal systems. In our study, APACHE-II and Frankel Scale were used. The revised acute physiology and chronic health assessment system (APACHE-II) is a physiologically-based scale that includes 12 physiological parameters. The Frankel Scale was developed in 1969 by Dr. Frankel and is considered to be the pioneer of the ASIA scale for staging of Spinal Cord Injury. In this study, 47 patients who had cervical spinal cord injury between 2016 and 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were treated within 24 hours of their admission to the emergency department. Each patients APACHE-II and Frankel scores were measured and analyzed with SPSS in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and mortality prediction.

Cervical spinal cord injury is a devastating event that can cause not only motor and sensory impairments, but also autonomic dysfunction. Functional and morphological changes in the sympathetic nervous system can also affect the respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, hematological and gastrointestinal systems. These systems can be affected more than lower level spinal traumas. Therefore, patients with cervical spinal cord injury were evaluated according to both Frankel and APACHE-II classification systems in terms of mortality prediction.