Background Sports-related concussion (SRC) results from abnormal traumatic forces applied to the brain, resulting in temporary alteration in neurological functioning. At the time of injury, such forces also are applied often to the cervical spine, placing the athlete at risk of a coexistent cervical spine injury. Spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality (SCIWORA) is a unique form of ...

Brachial plexus root avulsion (BPRA) leads to dramatic motoneuron death and glial reactions in the corresponding spinal segments at the late stage of injury. To protect spinal motoneurons, assessment of the affected spinal segments should be done at an earlier stage of the injury. In this study, we employed 18F-FDG small-animal PET/CT to assess the severity of BPRA-induced cervical spinal cord ...

A primary cause of morbidity and mortality following cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) is respiratory compromise, regardless of the level of trauma. In particular, SCI at mid-cervical regions targets degeneration of both descending bulbospinal respiratory axons and cell bodies of phrenic motor neurons, resulting in deficits in the function of the diaphragm, the primary muscle of inspiration. Co...

OBJECTIVE Neurophysiological investigation has shown that patients with clinically complete spinal cord injury can have residual motor sparing ("motor discomplete"). In the current study somatosensory conduction was assessed in a patient with clinically complete spinal cord injury and a novel methodology for assessing such preservation is described, in this case indicating "sensory discomplete"...

Isolated spinal cord injuries can rarely be found in patients with no traumatic radiological abnormalities of the spine. Stenoses of the medullary canal and degeneration of cervical spine are the predisposing factors. A case report of a 68-year-old patient is described, who developed quadriplegia with cardiac arrest due to isolated cervical spinal cord injury while jumping on a trampoline. Comp...

BACKGROUND Open-door expansile cervical laminoplasty (ODECL) is an effective surgical technique in the treatment of multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy. In the present study, we reviewed the safety and short-term neurological outcome after expansile cervical laminoplasty in the treatment of acute central cord syndrome. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed our database over a 3-year peri...

INTRODUCTION Delayed post-traumatic spinal cord infarction is a devastating complication described in children. In adults, spinal cord ischemia after cardiovascular interventions, scoliosis correction, or profound hypotension has been reported in the literature. However, delayed spinal cord infarction after minor head trauma has not been described yet. CASE PRESENTATION We report the case of ...

A great deal of progress has been made over the past decade in understanding the role of secondary injury in the progression of brain and spinal cord injury, and the innate immune response has emerged as an important potential therapeutic target (e.g. Beattie, 2004; Donnelly and Popovich, 2008). The microglial response to CNS damage and subsequent invasion of the lesion by peripheral macrophage...