a comparison between therapeutic effect of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and methylprednisolone in treatment of patients with acute traumatic spinal cord injury

background & aim: spinal cord injury (sci) is one of the worst kinds of traumatic injuries with remarkable social and economic effects on communities.  methods & materials/patients: in this prospective randomized clinical trial, 122 patients with traumatic spinal cord injury were admitted to poursina hospital within 48 hours of injury to compare granulocyte colony stimulating factor (g-csf) and high-dose methylprednisolone as neuroprotective therapy. results: in this research, 122 patients were studied out of whom 62 patients were included in the granulociote colony-stimulating factor (g-csf) group with a mean age of 40.4, and 60 patients in the methylprednisolone group with an average age of 40.10 years. 55 out of 122 patients (45%) were completely paralyzed (grade ais:a) and 67 (55%) were with incomplete spinal injury (grade ais:b,c,d). the average american spinal injury association (asia) sensory scores in the two groups were similarly compared in the same four time intervals, and p values were 0.7, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1. they were not statistically significant.  conclusion: according to the results, the g-csf was shown to be beneficial in average asia motor and sensory scores in the two groups of male patients at six months of onset of g-csf treatment (p value=0.04), and average asia motor scores improvement in the falls subgroup patients also differed significantly within six months of onset of g-csf treatment (p value=0.03). a multicentre prospective randomized clinical trial to compare the placebo effect with g-csf protocol's treatment, and also assessment of the cost benefits of the common medical treatment versus g-csf are needed.