Topic summary
Spinal cord injuries
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Spinal cord injury.
Cervical spine
Spinal cord injuries at the cervical vertebrae (neck) level result in full or partial tetraplegia, also called quadriplegia. Depending on the specific location and severity of trauma, limited function may be retained. Additional symptoms of cervical injuries include low heart rate, low blood pressure, problems regulating body temperature, and breathing dysfunction. If the injury is high enough in the neck to impair the muscles involved in breathing, the person may not be able to breathe without the help of an endotracheal tube and mechanical ventilator.