View clinical trials related to Spinal Cord Diseases.
Filter by:Acute spontaneous Spinal Cord Infarctions (SCI) are an uncommon cause of myelopathy (5%), but their prognostic is heterogeneous and frequently severe. Positive diagnosis is difficult, one quarter of initial MRIs are normal. Differential diagnosis with other transverse myelopathy causes is a common issue. As in cerebral stroke, there are multiple causes and mechanisms in spontaneous SCI, often difficult to clearly establish. There are also clinical and radiological patterns, sometimes misleading, according to vascular territory and its expanse. Due to its scarcity and heterogeneity, improving knowledge and medical care remains difficult. Medical care is still badly codified in medical literature. Recently, diagnostic criteria have been proposed to better identify SCI, provide earlier care and homogenize future research. External validity and reproduction of these new criteria among acute myelopathies are still to be validated. While there is no established medical treatment in the initial care of spontaneous SCI, some case reports show successful treatment with IV thrombolysis. Given the severe prognosis, conventional treatment of strokes (thrombolysis, anticoagulant and antiplatelet), could be considered on an individual scale, in a specific protocol. A better knowledge of radio-clinical and security factors are necessary to support this approach. In order to respond to these difficulties, a retrospective cohort will allow us to better define epidemiological, clinico-radiological and prognostic features of spontaneous SCI. It lays the foundation of a possible prospective multicentric cohort, necessary for specific therapeutic studies.
Radiculopathy and/or myelopathy due to cervical degenerative disc disease are increasingly common pathologies in our ageing population. Both can be treated non-surgically or surgically. The most commonly used neurosurgical treatment is anterior cervical discectomy with or without fusion. The goal is to achieve neural decompression of the operated segment in both procedures. However, due to this fusion and reduced mobility of the cervical spine at the level of the intervention, adjacent segment disease may occur. This can lead to new symptoms like radiculopathy and/or myelopathy at an adjacent level which requires reoperation in about 2/3 of patients. Reoperations are burdensome for patients and have a socio-economic impact due to the costs of hospital admissions, operations, and secondary costs such as work-absenteeism. The primary objective of this retrospective study is to determine the occurrence of adjacent segment disease after a single- or multi-level anterior cervical discectomy with fusion procedure for radiculopathy and/or myelopathy in the investigators' centre and to compare this to the incidence in literature. The investigators also look at the risk of adjacent segment disease after different anterior surgical techniques, such as anterior cervical discectomy, anterior cervical discectomy with fusion and plating, and corpectomy. As a secondary outcome they aim to determine risk factors predicting the occurrence of adjacent segment disease.
This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) for upper extremity pain related to spasticity in patients with spinal cord injury.
This research study is being conducted to help improve the pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative course for patients and enhance recovery.
Use of cervical orthosis after instrumented posterior cervical spinal surgery is still widely practiced even though modern fusion techniques likely do not require additional stabilization from an external orthosis. This is a single, centre randomized, non-blinded equivalence trial. Patients undergoing multi-level posterior cervical fusion will be randomized to cervical orthosis (CO group) or no orthosis (NO group). Immediately following surgery patients in the CO group will be fitted with a Philadelphia collar prior to being transferred to the recovery room. On the patient ward a physiotherapist will fit the patient with a Cervimax/Aspen/Miami J collar which will be worn at all times for 6 weeks according the standard of care. The NO group will have no specific precautions applied to their neck range of motion. Outcomes will be assessed prior to surgery, on the second day after surgery, and at 2, 4, 6 and 12 weeks after surgery. The primary outcome will be neck pain score on the numerical rating scale (ranging from 0-10 with higher scores indicating more severe pain) during the first 4 weeks after surgery with an equivalence margin of 2.0 points. Secondary outcomes will be neck disability, general health, treatment satisfaction, pain medication use, adverse events, neck range of motion, time meeting discharge status, and compliance in wearing the collar.
Muscle weakness is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms following a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Strength training is recommended as an effective means to increase muscular strength and improve function for individuals with long term SCI. In contrast, the strength training guidance for those with a recent (<1 year) SCI is lacking. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the feasibility of a method of upper limb strengthening - Progressive Resistance Training (PRT) and its impact upon muscle strength and function.
Up to 15 able-bodied individuals will participate in one testing session to evaluate the effectiveness of the A-FES system. Up to 20 individuals with SCI will participate in 12 sessions of A-FES therapy. At each session, participants will stand on a force plate (Accu Sway, AMTI, USA) with the A-FES system (Compex Motion II, Compex Motion, Switzerland) donned. The centre of pressure (COP) will be calculated in real time using the force plate data. The calculated COP will be presented to participants on a monitor and they will be instructed to shift their COP in the indicated directions as represented by a cursor (i.e. training with visual feedback). The intensity of electrical stimulation provided by the A-FES system will be regulated by the measured COP in a closed-loop manner. In this study we propose to develop and evaluate the clinically-feasible A-FES system for the training of standing balance.
Model of this study is a combined both retrospective chart review and follow up survey. Data of 4 hospitals will be used to find out the efficacy of conservative treatment in cervical myelopathy.
The investigators have recently shown in incomplete SCI patients that long-term paired associative stimulation is capable of restoring voluntary control over some paralyzed muscles and enhancing motor output in the weak muscles. In this study, the investigators will administer long-term paired associative stimulation to patients with incomplete cervical level SCI at the subacute stage, and investigate its effectiveness for upper extremity rehabilitation.
Incomplete spinal cord injuries (SCI) are the most frequent neurologic category, comprising 66.7% of all SCI cases. People with incomplete SCI may retain some ability to move the legs and therefore the capacity to regain walking. Studies that show functional improvement in locomotion via electrical stimulation of lumbosacral circuits suggest that the underlying mechanisms are neuromodulation of lumbosacral spinal cord automaticity and sensory feedback. Both epidural and transcutaneous spinal stimulation are demonstrating exciting potential to improve limb function for people after chronic SCI. Available treatment options for SCI are less than satisfactory and most often do not achieve full restoration of function. Recent experimental results suggest an exciting new approach of using electrical spinal stimulation to enable users to regain control of their weak or paralyzed muscles. Using surgically-implanted electrodes, epidural stimulation results in remarkable improvements of lower extremity function as well as autonomic functions such as bladder function and sexual function. In addition to epidural stimulation, over only the last few years a novel strategy of skin surface electrical spinal stimulation has also demonstrated exciting potential for improving walking function. Using a high-frequency stimulation pulse, current can pass through the skin without discomfort and activate the spinal cord; this results in patterned stepping movements for people without SCI and improved lower extremity function following SCI. This study will directly compare skin-surface transcutaneous stimulation with implanted epidural stimulation for improving lower extremity function.