Table 1.

Time course of events for examination, imaging and intervention on a patient with an acute traumatic spinal cord injury.

Day	Time	Description
1	9:24 am	Patient presents to the tertiary care hospital for assessment after a fall off of scaffolding.
	9:53 am	Trauma assessment is completed by the emergency room physician.
	9:57 am	CT scan of the brain, chest, abdomen, pelvis and spine are completed.
	10:20 am	Spine surgery consultation. History is obtained and detailed neurological examination is performed. The patient is confirmed to have 3/5 strength to the hip flexors and 0/5 strength in the remaining muscle groups of the lower extremities. He had patchy sensation to light touch and pin prick stimulation in a non-dermatomal fashion over both lower extremities. Digital rectal examination demonstrated absence of rectal tone, voluntary anal contraction and deep anal pressure sensation. He also had complete loss of sensation bilaterally in the perineal region. Imaging confirms a T12 burst fracture with canal compromise. The patient is diagnosed with a complete spinal cord injury. Surgical intervention for decompression and stabilization are recommended.
	1:00 pm	The patient undergoes surgical intervention in the form of a T10-L2 posterior instrumented fusion with T12 and L1 laminectomy. A subdural strain gauge pressure monitor is inserted at the T12 level.
Day 2–6	-	The patient is monitored in an intermediate care unit following surgery for a period of 5 days. Physiologic data including arterial blood pressure, heart rate and intraspinal pressure are captured using invasive monitoring.
Day 7	-	The subdural catheter and arterial line are removed at the bedside. End of physiological monitoring.
Day 17	-	The patient is transferred to the spinal cord injury rehabilitation unit.
6 Months post-surgery	-	Outpatient follow up with patient.