Value of the Brain and Spinal Injury Center Score in Assessment and Prognosis of Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

The objective was to assess the severity of neurological injury in acute traumatic spinal cord injury (ATSCI) using the BASIC (Brain and Spinal Injury Center) score, to correlate with the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS) grade at admission and at 3 months postinjury in patients managed for ATSCI at National Hospital, Abuja, and thereby validate the novel BASIC score. This was a prospective longitudinal hospital-based study involving consecutive patients diagnosed with ATSCI and managed at the National Hospital, Abuja. Sixty-five participants met the inclusion criteria. Each patient was resuscitated along the Advanced Trauma Life Support protocol, followed by history, neurological examination according to the International Standards for the Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI), and AIS grades that were recorded. Magnetic resonance imaging scan of the injured spinal cord was done, and BASIC scores were assigned. Further management was as per the standard. Three months after injury, neurological examination was again carried out based on ISNCSCI and AIS grades assigned. Data were collected, analyzed, and correlated using Excel and SPSS version 23. Means, medians, correlation coefficients, and Fisher's exact t-tests were determined. p-Value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results show mean age was 39.1 +/- 12.3 years. The majority (81.5%) were males, whereas 18.5% were females. The majority (67.7%) were skilled professionals, 13.8% were unskilled, and 18.5% were students. Most injuries (90.8%) were due to road traffic accidents, whereas 9.2% were due to falls. Majority (72.3%) of the patients had complete SCI (AIS grade A), whereas AIS grade E accounted for the least number (3.1%). Cervical spine injury affected 92.3% of patients, whereas 7.7% had thoracic spine injury. Most patients had BASIC 4 pattern on MRI (44.6%), whereas BASIC 1 pattern was the fewest (3.1%). Surgery was not done for 58.5% of patients, whereas 41.5% had surgical decompression and spine fusion. At 3 months postinjury, 15.4% of patients had AIS grade improvement, whereas 84.6% maintained their AIS grade. The largest AIS grade improvement was from grade B to C (6.2%), which was statistically significant (p = 0.04). BASIC score correlated moderately with admission AIS grade (p = 0.532). BASIC score also correlated moderately with AIS grade at 3 months postinjury (p = 0.546). BASIC score 4 was best at predicting poor outcome in ATSCI. In conclusion, BASIC score has a moderate correlation with AIS grade in ATSCI and can predict poor outcomes in ATSCI. BASIC score of 4 has the best discriminant value in prognosticating and represents severe SCI.