Although the vast majority of injuries suffered while cycling are minor, acute spinal injuries have been reported. We describe three cases of acute spinal injury occurring while cycling. All three patients reported being thrown over the handlebars, while travelling downhill at speed. Two of the cases resulted in profound neurological deficit. These cases show that there is a spectrum of spinal ...

matrix metalloproteinases (mmps) are a family of neutral proteinases that are important in normal development, cellular differentiation or migration, angiogenesis, neurogenesis, wound repair, and a wide range of pathological processes such as oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. mmps have been demonstrated to increase the permeability of the blood–brain barrier (bbb) by degrading the compone...

Peripheral nerves are susceptible to injury in the athlete because of the excessive physiological demands that are made on both the neurological structures and the soft tissues that protect them. The common mechanisms of injury are compression, traction, ischaemia and laceration. Seddon's original classification system for nerve injuries based on neurophysiological changes is the most widely us...

Background—The goal of this study was to determine whether advanced age affects mortality and incidence of neurological injury in patients undergoing surgical repair with hypothermic circulatory arrest in acute and chronic thoracic aortic pathology. Methods and Results—A university center audit was done of 523 consecutive patients (median age, 64 years; interquartile range, 56 –71 years) betwee...

OBJECTIVE To explore the course and timing of functional recovery in patients who have emerged from coma after undergoing severe traumatic brain injury. METHODS An observational study involving 19 patients with traumatic brain injury recovered from coma who underwent holistic, intensive and multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation. Daily performance in each cognitive function (long-term memory, ...

BACKGROUND Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) may increase the risk of spinal cord injury (SCI) with various neurological deficits after minor trauma. However, few studies have investigated the influence of OPLL on neurological outcome after acute cord injury. We examined whether severe spinal canal stenosis caused by OPLL affects neurological outcome after SCI based on ...

BACKGROUND The goal of this study was to determine whether advanced age affects mortality and incidence of neurological injury in patients undergoing surgical repair with hypothermic circulatory arrest in acute and chronic thoracic aortic pathology. METHODS AND RESULTS A university center audit was done of 523 consecutive patients (median age, 64 years; interquartile range, 56-71 years) betwe...

A scheme to quantitate the clinical neurological status of the seriously head-injured patient has been devised. The neurological parameters used to quantify the degree of injury are based on neurological functions which have previously been accepted as indicators of the severity of the head injury. A numerical value is assigned to each parameter with emphasis on defining the level of consciousn...

Stab wounds of the spinal canal are rare and constitute an uncommon cause of spinal cord injury. They are usually responsible for an immediate neurological deficit that requires emergency therapeutic management to minimize the extent of neurological deficit and to prevent further loss of neurological function. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to evaluate damage to the spinal cord, inclu...