• Ravindran Visagan, Florence R A Hogg, Mathew J Gallagher, Siobhan Kearney, Argyro Zoumprouli, Marios C Papadopoulos, and Samira Saadoun.
• Academic Neurosurgery Unit, St. George's, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
• Crit. Care Med. 2022 May 1; 50 (5): e477e486e477-e486.

ObjectivesTo determine the feasibility of monitoring tissue oxygen tension from the injury site (pscto2) in patients with acute, severe traumatic spinal cord injuries.DesignWe inserted at the injury site a pressure probe, a microdialysis catheter, and an oxygen electrode to monitor for up to a week intraspinal pressure (ISP), spinal cord perfusion pressure (SCPP), tissue glucose, lactate/pyruvate ratio (LPR), and pscto2. We analyzed 2,213 hours of such data. Follow-up was 6-28 months postinjury.SettingSingle-center neurosurgical and neurocritical care units.SubjectsTwenty-six patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries, American spinal injury association Impairment Scale A-C. Probes were inserted within 72 hours of injury.InterventionsInsertion of subarachnoid oxygen electrode (Licox; Integra LifeSciences, Sophia-Antipolis, France), pressure probe, and microdialysis catheter.Measurements And Main Resultspscto2 was significantly influenced by ISP (pscto2 26.7 ± 0.3 mm Hg at ISP > 10 mmHg vs pscto2 22.7 ± 0.8 mm Hg at ISP ≤ 10 mm Hg), SCPP (pscto2 26.8 ± 0.3 mm Hg at SCPP < 90 mm Hg vs pscto2 32.1 ± 0.7 mm Hg at SCPP ≥ 90 mm Hg), tissue glucose (pscto2 26.8 ± 0.4 mm Hg at glucose < 6 mM vs 32.9 ± 0.5 mm Hg at glucose ≥ 6 mM), tissue LPR (pscto2 25.3 ± 0.4 mm Hg at LPR > 30 vs pscto2 31.3 ± 0.3 mm Hg at LPR ≤ 30), and fever (pscto2 28.8 ± 0.5 mm Hg at cord temperature 37-38°C vs pscto2 28.7 ± 0.8 mm Hg at cord temperature ≥ 39°C). Tissue hypoxia also occurred independent of these factors. Increasing the Fio2 by 0.48 increases pscto2 by 71.8% above baseline within 8.4 minutes. In patients with motor-incomplete injuries, fluctuations in pscto2 correlated with fluctuations in limb motor score. The injured cord spent 11% (39%) hours at pscto2 less than 5 mm Hg (< 20 mm Hg) in patients with motor-complete outcomes, compared with 1% (30%) hours at pscto2 less than 5 mm Hg (< 20 mm Hg) in patients with motor-incomplete outcomes. Complications were cerebrospinal fluid leak (5/26) and wound infection (1/26).ConclusionsThis study lays the foundation for measuring and altering spinal cord oxygen at the injury site. Future studies are required to investigate whether this is an effective new therapy.Copyright © 2022 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

13 keywords...

hide…