The role of therapeutic hypothermia in the management of acute spinal cord injury

Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe and sudden event that carries serious health, financial, social, and quality-of-life burdens. For the 11,000 new cases of SCI every year in the United States, fewer than 5% of the patients with American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Grade A injuries ever improve to Grade B, C, or D [1,2]. Although a few potential treatments for this devastating injury exist, such as corticosteroids or decompressive surgery, no therapeutic agent clearly protects against the damage precipitated by acute SCI [3,4].

Source: Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery - January 16, 2017 Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Nikolay L. Martirosyan, Arpan A. Patel, Alessandro Carotenuto, M.Yashar S Kalani, Michael A. Bohl, Mark C. Preul, Nicholas Theodore Source Type: research