Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2012
Characteristics of lower extremity clonus after human cervical spinal cord injury.
Clonus can interfere with self-care and rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injury. Our aim was to characterize clonus and to evaluate factors that influence clonus duration in muscles paralyzed chronically by spinal cord injury. Electromyographic activity was recorded from soleus and 7 other limb muscles (5 ipsilateral, 2 contralateral) during clonus. ⋯ Clonus was intermediate (median: 21 sec) with activation of three or four ipsilateral muscles and these contractions were associated with greater activation of ipsilateral flexors. Clonus was short (<5 sec) when ipsilateral and contralateral muscles were activated (five or six muscles). Activation of extraneous afferent input, particularly contralateral muscles, may provide a way to shorten clonus after spinal cord injury.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2012
Spinal cord injury triggers an intrinsic growth-promoting state in nociceptors.
Although most investigations of the mechanisms underlying chronic pain after spinal cord injury (SCI) have examined the central nervous system (CNS), recent studies have shown that nociceptive primary afferent neurons display persistent hyperexcitability and spontaneous activity in their peripheral branches and somata in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) after SCI. This suggests that SCI-induced alterations of primary nociceptors contribute to central sensitization and chronic pain after SCI. Does SCI also promote growth of these neurons' fibers, as has been suggested in some reports? The present study tests the hypothesis that SCI induces an intrinsic growth-promoting state in DRG neurons. ⋯ Elongating growth was also found in neurons immunoreactive to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), suggesting that some of the neurons exhibiting enhanced neuritic growth were nociceptors. The same measurements made on neurons dissociated 1 month after SCI revealed no evidence of elongating growth, although evidence for accelerated initiation of neurite outgrowth was found. Under certain conditions this transient growth-promoting state in nociceptors might be important for the development of chronic pain and hyperreflexia after SCI.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2012
Variability in the treatment of acute spinal cord injury in the United Kingdom: results of a national survey.
The aim of this study was to examine how traumatic spinal cord injury is managed in the United Kingdom via a questionnaire survey of all neurosurgical units. We contacted consultant neurosurgeons and neuroanesthetists in all neurosurgical centers that manage patients with acute spinal cord injury. Two clinical scenarios-of complete and incomplete cervical spinal cord injuries-were given to determine local treatment policies. ⋯ We report wide variability among U. K. neurosurgeons and neuroanesthetists in their treatment of acute traumatic spinal cord injury. Our findings reflect the lack of Class 1 evidence that early surgical decompression and intensive medical management of patients with spinal cord injury improves neurological outcome.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2012
Default mode network in concussed individuals in response to the YMCA physical stress test.
We hypothesize that the evolution of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) may be related to differential effects of a concussive blow on the functional integrity of the brain default mode network (DMN) at rest and/or in response to physical stress. Accordingly, in this resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we examined 14 subjects 10±2 days post-sports-related mTBI and 15 age-matched normal volunteers (NVs) to investigate the possibility that the integrity of the DMN is disrupted at the resting state and/or following the physical stress test. First, all mTBI subjects were asymptomatic based upon clinical evaluation and neuropsychological (NP) assessments prior to the MRI session. ⋯ Thus while the DMN remained resilient to a single mTBI without exertion at 10 days post-injury, it was altered in response to limited physical stress. This may explain some clinical features of mTBI and provide some insight into its mechanism. This important finding should be considered by clinical practitioners when making decisions regarding return-to-play and clearing mTBI athletes for sports participation.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2012
Outcome prediction within twelve hours after severe traumatic brain injury by quantitative cerebral blood flow.
We measured quantitative cortical mantle cerebral blood flow (CBF) by stable xenon computed tomography (CT) within the first 12 h after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) to determine whether neurologic outcome can be predicted by CBF stratification early after injury. Stable xenon CT was used for quantitative measurement of CBF (mL/100 g/min) in 22 cortical mantle regions stratified as follows: low (0-8), intermediate (9-30), normal (31-70), and hyperemic (>70) in 120 patients suffering severe (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score ≤8) TBI. For each of these CBF strata, percentages of total cortical mantle volume were calculated. ⋯ The binary version of the Marshall CT score was an independent predictor of 6-month outcome, whereas age was not. These results suggest that quantitative cerebral cortical CBF measured within the first 6 and 12 h after TBI predicts 6-month outcome, which may be useful in guiding patient care and identifying patients for randomized clinical trials. A larger multicenter randomized clinical trial is indicated.