How should the nurse explain to a patient with a spinal cord injury why the extent of injury cannot be determined for several days to a week?
1. "Tissue repair does not begin for 72 hours.".
2. "We have to wait until spinal shock resolves.".
3. "Neurons need time to regenerate, so it is hard to predict how you will progress.".
4. "The most serious changes after an injury take days to develop.".
2
Rationale 1: The inability to determine the extent of injury is not related to delayed tissue repair.
Rationale 2: Spinal shock is a state of areflexia that occurs as a result of primary injury. It is not possible to determine the extent of injury until this condition abates.
Rationale 3: Neurons do not regenerate.
Rationale 4: Within 24 hours of the injury, necrosis of both gray and white matter begins if ischemia has been prolonged and the function of nerves passing through the injured area is lost.
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