Surg Neurol
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Steroids are commonly used in the treatment of acute spinal cord injury patients although a review of the literature fails to define a consistent regimen for administration with regard to optimal preparation or dosage or schedule. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of exogenous steroids on the outcome of experimental spinal cord injury and the effect of experimental spinal cord injury on endogenous cortisol production. Thirty female rhesus monkeys received a 660 gm cm lesion to the T10 spinal cord. ⋯ There were no significant differences in physical condition between treated and control groups. Of special interest was the response of endogenous cortisol production to spinal cord injury. Early cortisol elevation following injury peaked by eight hours and then precipitously dropped to baseline levels before 24 hours following injury.
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To determine the normal response of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate following uncomplicated lumbar disc operation, 16 patients were studied with serial erythrocyte sedimentation rates during the first six postoperative weeks. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate should be no higher than 25 mm/hr after the first week following an uncomplicated lumbar disc operation in a patient with a normal preoperative erythrocyte sedimentation rate. In patients with elevated preoperative erythrocyte sedimentation rates, further postoperative elevation may be noted. This value may be incorrectly interpreted unless a preoperative erythrocyte sedimentation rate has been determined for baseline purposes.
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A thoracic sympathetic ganglionectomy was performed on 457 patients with palmar hyperhidrosis, resulting in a complete cessation of the excessive palmar sweating but not a total abolition of the sweating of the upper extremity, forehead, face, neck, upper chest and upper back. This procedure does not produce a Horner's syndrome. The present data provide evidence that sympathetic pathways for controlling sweating of the above-mentioned skin areas come mainly through the second thoracic ganglion, and therefore from the spinal cord segment below T1 in man.