Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
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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. ⋯ 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.