GOAL

The Cervical and Thoracolumbar Spine Injury Evaluation, Transport, and Surgery CPG delivers updated, accurate guidance to the deployed provider in order to afford the best care to patients who suffer a spinal column or spinal cord injury. This requires constant re-evaluation of the literature, both military and civilian, in addition to reviewing the lessons learned from past and present deployments. Review of these sources drives evidenced-based changes in treatment and triage algorithms, while providing updates on injury classification and current mechanisms of injury.

The authors provide key recommendations for each section.1 It should be noted that while there may be strong evidence in the civilian literature for managing certain aspects of trauma, not all of these recommendations translate into a combat-trauma setting and so the account for the resource restricted environment of the deployed setting.