Pathological features including apoptosis in subacute posttraumatic ascending myelopathy

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 619-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mubarak Al-Ghatany ◽  
Mubarak Al-Shraim ◽  
Allan D. O. Levi ◽  
Rajiv Midha
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Rare Disorder ◽  
Pathological Features ◽  
Mechanical Instability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Subacute posttraumatic ascending myelopathy (SPAM) is a rare disorder that may gradually emerge in the first 1 to 3 weeks after a spinal cord injury and is unrelated to syrinx formation or mechanical instability. In addition to several theories that have been put forth to explain the origin of this syndrome, the authors propose a possible role for apoptosis in the causation and the progression of SPAM. They discuss the various theories that have been proposed thus far, to place the role of apoptosis in perspective and use their case as an illustration.

Subacute posttraumatic ascending myelopathy after spinal cord injury

2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Belanger ◽  
Claude Picard ◽  
Daniel Lacerte ◽  
Pierre Lavallee ◽  
Allan D. O. Levi
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Clinical Presentation ◽  
Rare Disorder ◽  
Mechanical Instability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Imaging Characteristics ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Patient Prognosis ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Subacute posttraumatic ascending myelopathy is a rare disorder, unrelated to syrinx formation or mechanical instability, that may gradually emerge within the first 1 to 2 weeks after a spinal cord injury. The authors describe three patients with this syndrome and discuss its possible causes as well as its clinical presentation, imaging characteristics, treatment, and patient prognosis.

The role of multiple hyperbaric oxygenation in expanding therapeutic windows after acute spinal cord injury in rats

2003 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lixin Huang ◽  
Maheshkumar P. Mehta ◽  
Anil Nanda ◽  
John H. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Hyperbaric Oxygenation ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Therapeutic Window ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Weight Drop ◽  
Fine Print

Object. Hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) therapy has been reported to improve neurological recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI). In the present study, the authors examined whether multiple HBO therapy can expand the therapeutic window after acute SCI. Methods. Seventy rats were randomly assigned to seven groups: sham surgery; SCI without treatment; single HBO treatment beginning at 30 minutes, 3 hours, and 6 hours after SCI; and multiple HBO treatments starting at 6 and 24 hours postinjury. Mild SCI was induced by adjusting the height of a weight drop (10 g) to 6.25 mm above the exposed spinal cord. A single HBO administration was performed at 2.82 ata for 1 hour. The multiple HBO treatment modality was performed once daily for 1 week. All rats underwent behavioral testing with the Basso-Beattie-Breshnahan locomotor rating scale twice a week. Rats were killed on Day 42 postinjury and specimens comprising the lesioned area were histopathologically examined. Those rats that received single HBO intervention beginning at 30 minutes and 3 hours and those that received multiple HBO treatment starting at 6 hours following injury made significantly greater neurological recoveries than those in the nontreatment SCI group. These rats also retained more sparing tissue than controls. Conclusions. The results of this study demonstrate that multiple HBO treatments can expand the therapeutic window for acute SCI to 6 hours after injury.

The effects of methylprednisolone and the ganglioside GM1 on acute spinal cord injury in rats

1994 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomo Constantini ◽  
Wise Young
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Body Weight Loss ◽  
Ganglioside Gm1 ◽  
Rat Spinal Cord ◽  
Neuroprotective Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Spinal Cord ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Recent clinical trials have reported that methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MP) or the monosialic ganglioside GM1 improves neurological recovery in human spinal cord injury. Because GM1 may have additive or synergistic effects when used with MP, the authors compared MP, GM1, and MP+GM1 treatments in a graded rat spinal cord contusion model. Spinal cord injury was caused by dropping a rod weighing 10 gm from a height of 1.25, 2.5, or 5.0 cm onto the rat spinal cord at T-10, which had been exposed via laminectomy. The lesion volumes were quantified from spinal cord Na and K shifts at 24 hours after injury and the results were verified histologically in separate experiments. A single dose of MP (30 mg/kg), given 5 minutes after injury, reduced 24-hour spinal cord lesion volumes by 56% (p = 0.0052), 28% (p = 0.0065), and 13% (p > 0.05) in the three injury-severity groups, respectively, compared to similarly injured control groups treated with vehicle only. Methylprednisolone also prevented injury-induced hyponatremia and increased body weight loss in the spine-injured rats. When used alone, GM1 (10 to 30 mg/kg) had little or no effect on any measured variable compared to vehicle controls; when given concomitantly with MP, GM1 blocked the neuroprotective effects of MP. At a dose of 3 mg/kg, GM1 partially prevented MP-induced reductions in lesion volumes, while 10 to 30 mg/kg of GM1 completely blocked these effects of MP. The effects of MP on injury-induced hyponatremia and body weight loss were also blocked by GM1. Thus, GM1 antagonized both central and peripheral effects of MP in spine-injured rats. Until this interaction is clarified, the authors recommend that MP and GM1 not be used concomitantly to treat acute human spinal cord injury. Because GM1 modulates protein kinase activity, protein kinases inhibit lipocortins, and lipocortins mediate anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids, it is proposed that the neuroprotective effects of MP are partially due to anti-inflammatory effects and that GM1 antagonizes the effects of MP by inhibiting lipocortin. Possible beneficial effects of GM1 reported in central nervous system injury may be related to the effects on neural recovery rather than acute injury processes.

Therapeutic trial of hypercarbia and hypocarbia in acute experimental spinal cord injury

1984 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 925-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald W. J. Ford ◽  
David N. Malm
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Therapeutic Trial ◽  
Tissue Preservation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Experimental Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Hypocarbia, normocarbia, or hypercarbia was maintained for an 8-hour period beginning 30 minutes after acute threshold spinal cord injuries in cats. No statistically significant differences in neurological recovery or histologically assessed tissue preservation were found among the three groups of animals 6 weeks after injury. No animal recovered the ability to walk. It is concluded that maintenance of hypercarbia or hypocarbia during the early postinjury period is no more therapeutic than maintenance of normocarbia. Mortality rates and tissue preservation data suggest, however, that postinjury hypocarbia may be less damaging than hypercarbia.

Ultrastructural scoring of graded acute spinal cord injury in the rat

2002 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erkan Kaptanoglu ◽  
Selcuk Palaoglu ◽  
H. Selcuk Surucu ◽  
Mutlu Hayran ◽  
Etem Beskonakli
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Behavioral Assessment ◽  
Traumatic Injury ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Contusion Injury ◽  
Weight Drop ◽  
Fine Print

Object. There is a need for an accurate quantitative histological technique that also provides information on neurons, axons, vascular endothelium, and subcellular organelles after spinal cord injury (SCI). In this paper the authors describe an objective, quantifiable technique for determining the severity of SCI. The usefulness of ultrastructural scoring of acute SCI was assessed in a rat model of contusion injury. Methods. Spinal cords underwent acute contusion injury by using varying weights to produce graded SCI. Adult Wistar rats were divided into five groups. In the first group control animals underwent laminectomy only, after which nontraumatized spinal cord samples were obtained 8 hours postsurgery. The weight-drop technique was used to produce 10-, 25-, 50-, and 100-g/cm injuries. Spinal cord samples were also obtained in the different trauma groups 8 hours after injury. Behavioral assessment and ultrastructural evaluation were performed in all groups. When the intensity of the traumatic injury was increased, behavioral responses showed a decreasing trend. A similar significant negative correlation was observed between trauma-related intensity and ultrastructural scores. Conclusions. In the present study the authors characterize quantitative ultrastructural scoring of SCI in the acute, early postinjury period. Analysis of these results suggests that this method is useful in evaluating the degree of trauma and the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy in neuroprotection studies.

The therapeutic window for spinal cord decompression in a rat spinal cord injury model

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 302-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Shields ◽  
Y. Ping Zhang ◽  
Lisa B. E. Shields ◽  
Yingchun Han ◽  
Darlene A. Burke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Spinal Stenosis ◽  
Spinal Cord Compression ◽  
Cord Compression ◽  
Therapeutic Window ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Fine Print

Object. There are no clinically based guidelines to direct the spine surgeon as to the proper timing to undertake decompression after spinal cord injury (SCI) in patients with concomitant stenosis-induced cord compression. The following three factors affect the prognosis: 1) severity of SCI; 2) degree of extrinsic spinal cord compression; and 3) duration of spinal cord compression. Methods. To elucidate further the relationship between varying degrees of spinal stenosis and a mild contusion-induced SCI (6.25 g-cm), a rat SCI/stenosis model was developed in which 1.13- and 1.24-mm-thick spacers were placed at T-10 to create 38 and 43% spinal stenosis, respectively. Spinal cord damage was observed after the stenosis—SCI that was directly proportional to the duration of spinal cord compression. The therapeutic window prior to decompression was 6 and 12 hours in the 43 and 38% stenosis—SCI lesions, respectively, to maintain locomotor activity. A significant difference in total lesion volume was observed between the 2-hour and the delayed time(s) to decompression (38% stenosis—SCI, 12 and 24 hours, p < 0.05; 43% stenosis—SCI, 24 hours, p < 0.05) indicating a more favorable neurological outcome when earlier decompression is undertaken. This finding was further supported by the animal's ability to support weight when decompression was performed by 6 or 12 hours compared with 24 hours after SCI. Conclusions. Analysis of the findings in this study suggests that early decompression in the rat improves locomotor function. Prolongation of the time to decompression may result in irreversible damage that prevents locomotor recovery.

Cruciate paralysis

1986 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Dumitru ◽  
James E. Lang
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Rare Case ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Motor Vehicle Accident ◽  
Cervical Spinal Cord ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Vehicle Accident ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Fine Print

✓ A rare case of cruciate paralysis is reported in a 39-year-old man following a motor-vehicle accident. The differentiation of this syndrome from a central cervical spinal cord injury is delineated.

Bladder function after incomplete spinal cord injury in mice: quantifiable outcomes associated with bladder function and efficiency of dehydroepiandrosterone as a therapeutic adjunct

2004 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-61
Author(s):  
Pierre-Yves Mure ◽  
Mark Galdo ◽  
Nathalie Compagnone
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Mouse Model ◽  
Collagen Type ◽  
Neurological Recovery ◽  
Bladder Function ◽  
Type I ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Fine Print

Object. The authors conducted a study to establish outcomes associated with bladder function in a mouse model of spinal cord injury (SCI) and to assess the sensitivity of these outcomes in determining the efficacy of pharmacological treatments. Methods. A mouse model of moderate contusive SCI was used. Outcome parameters included physiological, behavioral, and morphological measurements. To test the sensitivity of these outcomes, the authors used a dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) treatment that they had previously shown to promote neurological recovery effectively after SCI. A behavioral scale was used to identify the day at which autonomic function of the bladder was recovered. The reduction in the daily volume of urine during the period of functional recovery paralleled this scale. They then determined the day postinjury at which the functional differences between the vehicle- and DHEA-treated mice exhibited the maximal amplitude. Changes were measured in the composition of the extracellular matrix relative to collagen expression in the layer muscularis of the detrusor at this time point. They found that SCI increases the ratio of collagen type III to collagen type I in the detrusor. Moreover, in the DHEA-treated group, this ratio was similar to that demonstrated in sham-operated mice, establishing the sensitivity of this outcome to assess therapeutic benefits to the bladder function. They next examined the relationship between measurements of neurological recovery and controlled voiding by using cluster analysis. Conclusions. The authors found that early recovery of controlled voiding is predictive of motor recovery.

Immediate effects of spinal cord stimulation in spinal spasticity

1985 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giancarlo Barolat-Romana ◽  
Joel B. Myklebust ◽  
David C. Hemmy ◽  
Barbara Myklebust ◽  
William Wenninger
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Spinal Cord Stimulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Clinical Observations ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Epidural Spinal Cord Stimulation ◽  
Stimulation System ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Six patients with intractable spasms after spinal cord injury underwent implantation of an epidural spinal cord stimulation system. All the patients experienced good relief postoperatively. In three patients spinal cord stimulation consistently produced immediate inhibition of the spasms. This was evident within less than 1 minute of stimulation. Conversely, the spasms reappeared within less than 1 minute after cessation of the stimulation. The clinical observations were confirmed by polygraphic electromyographic recordings.

Intrathecal phenol and glycerin in metrizamide for treatment of intractable spasms in paraplegia

1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett A. Scott ◽  
Zelig Weinstein ◽  
Robert Chiteman ◽  
Morris W. Pulliam
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Cerebrospinal Fluid ◽  
Intrathecal Injection ◽  
Fluoroscopic Guidance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Therapeutic Modalities ◽  
Comparative Review ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Intractable lower extremity spasms after spinal cord injury is a significant source of morbidity. A case of refractory spasticity in paraplegia was successfully converted to flaccid paraplegia by intrathecal injection of phenol and glycerin in metrizamide. This chemical rhizolysis is simple and effective, and the presence of metrizamide allows both fluoroscopic guidance for accurate intrathecal phenol placement and good miscibility with cerebrospinal fluid. A brief comparative review of alternative therapeutic modalities is presented.

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