Article

The management of osteoporosis in spinal cord injury that is a
recurring issue in daily practice, but unfortunately, no standard protocol is
provided by the literature review, either for screening or for a strategy of
prevention and even for therapy. We assessed the practices of the physicians in
physical medicine and rehabilitation from all over France, with the ultimate aim
to propose a consensus for preventive and curative cares of that osteoporosis.
A questionnaire was sent to practitioners engaged with spinal cord
injury (SCI) patients residing in the center and patients in medical monitoring.
The questionnaire consisted mainly of closed questions. RESULTS: Twenty-six
questionnaires are analyzed. The screening for osteoporosis is made routinely by
only 19.2% of the practitioners and after a fracture in only 80.2% of the cases.
The diagnosis of osteoporosis is based on bone densitometry (DEXA) (96%).
Standing still remains a means of prevention for 88% of physicians in the acute
phase and for 77% in the chronic phase. Ninety-two percent of practitioners treat
at the stage of established osteoporosis. CONCLUSION: There is generally no
standardized management of osteoporosis in practice for SCI patients. The searching for osteoporosis is usually performed after a fracture. All the
literature data and results of the questionnaire led us to propose a protocol
consisting in a systematic monitoring of the bone mineral density for the
screening of osteoporosis, but also a procedure for early diagnosis and for preventive treatment of osteoporosis in the acute phase.
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Langue : FRANCAIS