The journal of spinal cord medicine
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Comparative Study
Comparing quantification of pain severity by verbal rating and numeric rating scales.
Researchers have reported widely varying correlations among the 3 main instruments used to quantify pain severity, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), and Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), both at the level of groups and at the level of individuals. ⋯ There are considerable differences between individuals in how NRS and VRS are used; there also seem to be individuals whose understanding of the meaning of the VRS adjectives is completely different from what was assumed by the creators of this VRS. Both VRS and NRS data must be used with extreme caution by SCI clinicians and researchers.
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Mechanical insufflation-exsufflation (MIE) is an option for secretion mobilization in outpatients with spinal cord injury (SCI) who lack an effective cough and are at high risk for developing pneumonia. ⋯ Mechanical insufflation-exsufflation was typically prescribed for people with motor-complete tetraplegia. Outpatient MIE usage may reduce respiratory hospitalizations in smokers with SCI. Further research of this alternative, noninvasive method is warranted in the outpatient SCI population.
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The most prominent clinical features of progressive encephalomyelitis with rigidity (PER) are painful spasms and rigidity accompanied by clinical signs of brainstem and spinal cord involvement. In initial reports, PER had fatal outcome. Later, clinical improvement related to corticosteroid therapy has been described in some cases. The objective of this study was to signify a reputed clinical significance of corticosteroid therapy in PER. ⋯ For this patient with PER, corticosteroid therapy was a dramatically effective and life-saving treatment, although initiated rather late in the course of the disease.
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Oxidative stress is a mediator of secondary injury to the spinal cord following trauma. ⋯ The present study suggests that LA reduces SCI-induced oxidative stress and exerts neuroprotection by inhibiting lipid peroxidation, glutathione depletion, and DNA fragmentation.