What is the Prognosis?
The types of disability associated with SCI vary greatly depending on the severity of the injury, the segment of the spinal cord at which the injury occurs, and which nerve fibers are damaged. Most people with SCI regain some functions between a week and 6 months after injury, but the likelihood of spontaneous recovery diminishes after 6 months. Rehabilitation strategies can minimize long-term disability.
Many doctors will give quite a negative prognosis, for example: “you have years rather than decades to live”; “don’t make any long term plans”; “average life span after diagnosis is four years” and so on. This is based on existing text books which usually are describing figures from some years ago. We feel that while this may have been appropriate in the past that new treatments and new approaches as well as earlier diagnosis offer new possibilities. Each of us is an individual and should take the most positive approach to maximizing the possibilities of our lives. If you would like another example, consider the following extract from Blood Reviews, June 1991: “In general, the survival of patients with idiopathic myelofibrosis seems to a large extent programmed by their presenting findings and is not very much altered by therapy. Approximately 60% of patients with idiopathic myelofibrosis live 5 years. There is a significant cohort of patients who live 10 years or more. Patients with i
Many doctors will give quite a negative prognosis, for example: “you have years rather than decades to live”; “don’t make any long term plans”; “average life span after diagnosis is four years” and so on. This is based on existing text books which usually are describing figures from some years ago. We feel that while this may have been appropriate in the past that new treatments and new approaches as well as earlier diagnosis offer new possibilities. Each of us is an individual and should take the most positive approach to maximising the possibilities of our lives. If you would like another example, consider the following extract from Blood Reviews, June 1991: “In general, the survival of patients with idiopathic myelofibrosis seems to a large extent programmed by their presenting findings and is not very much altered by therapy. Approximately 60% of patients with idiopathic myelofibrosis live 5 years. There is a significant cohort of patients who live 10 years or more. Patients with i
