Muscle adaptations in acute SCI following overground exoskeleton + FES training: A pilot study.

Objective: To evaluate the combined effects of robotic exoskeleton and functional electrical stimulation (FES) training on muscle composition during over-ground gait training in persons with acute spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Randomized crossover pilot study.

Setting: Inpatient-rehabilitation Hospital.

Spinal Cord Tissue Bridges Validation Study: Predictive Relationships With Sensory Scores Following Cervical Spinal Cord Injury.

Background: Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), widths of ventral tissue bridges demonstrated significant predictive relationships with future pinprick sensory scores, and widths of dorsal tissue bridges demonstrated significant predictive relationships with future light touch sensory scores, following spinal cord injury (SCI). These studies involved smaller participant numbers, and external validation of their findings is warranted.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to validate these previous findings using a larger independent data set.

Lateral Corticospinal Tract and Dorsal Column Damage: Predictive Relationships With Motor and Sensory Scores at Discharge From Acute Rehabilitation After Spinal Cord Injury.

Objective: To determine if lateral corticospinal tract (LCST) integrity demonstrates a significant predictive relationship with future ipsilateral lower extremity motor function (LEMS) and if dorsal column (DC) integrity demonstrates a significant predictive relationship with future light touch (LT) sensory function post spinal cord injury (SCI) at time of discharge from inpatient rehabilitation.

Design: Retrospective analyses of imaging and clinical outcomes.

Setting: University and academic hospital.

The influence of conventional T MRI indices in predicting who will walk outside one year after spinal cord injury.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) indices of spinal cord damage are predictive of future motor function after spinal cord injury (SCI): hyperintensity length, midsagittal tissue bridges, and Brain and Spinal Injury Center (BASIC) scores. Whether these indices are predictive of outdoor walking after SCI is unknown. The primary purpose was to see if these MRI indices predict the ability to walk outdoors one-year after SCI.

Axial MRI biomarkers of spinal cord damage to predict future walking and motor function: a retrospective study.

Study Design: Retrospective.

Objectives: Primary: to assess if axial damage ratios are predictors of future walking after spinal cord injury (SCI), and if they add any predictive value if initial neurological impairment grades are available. Secondary: to determine if lateral spinal cord regions are predictors of future lower extremity motor scores (LEMS).

Establishing the inter-rater reliability of spinal cord damage manual measurement using magnetic resonance imaging.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Objectives: To establish the inter-rater reliability in the quantitative evaluation of spinal cord damage following cervical incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) utilizing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI was used to perform manual measurements of the cranial and caudal boundaries of edema, edema length, midsagittal tissue bridge ratio, axial damage ratio, and edema volume in 10 participants with cervical incomplete SCI.

Balance in chronic traumatic brain injury: correlations between clinical measures and a self-report measure.

Objective: To assess associations among commonly used self-report and clinical measures of balance in chronic TBI.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of balance in a convenience sample of individuals at least one year post TBI.

Main Outcome Measures: Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC) (self-reported balance impairment), Community Balance and Mobility Scale (CB&M) (clinical measure validated in TBI), and Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BESTest) (clinical measure not validated in TBI).

Midsagittal tissue bridges are associated with walking ability in incomplete spinal cord injury: A magnetic resonance imaging case series.

: Following spinal cord injury (SCI), early prediction of future walking ability is difficult, due to factors such as spinal shock, sedation, impending surgery, and secondary long bone fracture. Accurate, objective biomarkers used in the acute stage of SCI would inform individualized patient management and enhance both patient/family expectations and treatment outcomes. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and specifically a midsagittal T2-weighted image, the amount of tissue bridging (measured as spared spinal cord tissue) shows potential to serve as such a biomarker.

Lateral Corticospinal Tract Damage Correlates With Motor Output in Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between spinal cord damage and specific motor function in participants with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI).

Design: Single-blinded, cross-sectional study design.

Setting: University setting research laboratory.