The impact of early surgical treatment of tracheal stenosis on neurorehabilitation outcome in patients with severe acquired brain injury.

Introduction: Acquired tracheal stenosis (TS) is a potentially life-threatening condition following prolonged intubation and/or tracheostomy in adult patients with severe Acquired Brain Injury (sABI), requiring a tracheal resection and reconstruction.

Methods: We included 38 sABI adult patients with TS, admitted at a post-acute Neurorehabilitation Hospital. Disability Rating Scale (DRS) and other functional assessment measures were recorded at admission (t), before TS surgical treatment (t), and at discharge (t).

Improvement rate of patients with severe brain injury during post-acute intensive rehabilitation.

Patients with severe acquired brain injury (SABI) may evolve towards different outcomes. The primary aim was to evaluate the clinical evolution of a large population of patients with SABI admitted to post-acute rehabilitation from 2001 to 2016, diagnosed with severe brain injury (GCS ≤ 8) in the acute phase and a coma duration of at least 24 h. The possible changes between the admission time to a post-acute rehabilitation hospital and the discharge time were measured by means of Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS), Level of Cognitive Functioning (LCF), and Disability Rating Scale (DRS).

Observational study of the effectiveness of spinal cord injury rehabilitation using the Spinal Cord Injury-Ability Realization Measurement Index.

Study Design: Retrospective observational study.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the rehabilitation potential and the extent to which it is realized in a cohort of spinal cord injury patients using the Spinal Cord Injury-Ability Realization Measurement Index (SCI-ARMI) and to study the clinical factors that influence this realization.

Setting: Two spinal units in Italy.

Who is going to walk? A review of the factors influencing walking recovery after spinal cord injury.

The recovery of walking function is considered of extreme relevance both by patients and physicians. Consequently, in the recent years, recovery of locomotion become a major objective of new pharmacological and rehabilitative interventions. In the last decade, several pharmacological treatment and rehabilitative approaches have been initiated to enhance locomotion capacity of SCI patients.

Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury version II in acute spinal cord injury: reliability and reproducibility.

Study Design: Administration of the walking index for SCI (WISCI) II is recommended to assess walking in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. Determining the reliability and reproducibility of the WISCI II in acute SCI would be invaluable.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess the reliability and reproducibility of the WISCI II in patients with traumatic, acute SCI.

Impact of multiple injuries on functional and neurological outcomes of patients with spinal cord injury.

Background: The effects of multiple injuries on the neurological and functional outcomes of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) are debated-some groups have shown that subjects with multiple injuries have the same neurological and functional outcomes of those without them, whereas others have found that SCI patients with associated traumatic brain injury have worse functional status at admission and discharge and longer rehabilitation stays than patients without brain injury. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of SCI subjects with or without multiple injuries.

Methods: A total of 245 patients with a traumatic SCI during the first rehabilitation stay after the development of the lesion (202 males and 43 females; age 39.

Distribution-based estimates of clinically significant changes in the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury motor and sensory scores.

Background: Although the psychometric properties and statistical significance of the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury Patients (ISNCSCI) have been widely examined, the clinical significance of motor and sensory scores (i.e., the improvement in score that has a meaningful impact on patients) is unknown.

The spinal cord independence measure: how much change is clinically significant for spinal cord injury subjects.

Purpose: To calculate the clinical significance of the SCIM III according to distribution-based approaches.

Method: Retrospective review of the charts of 255 patients with registration of the total SCIM and of the four subscales. Clinical significance was calculated per several distribution-based approaches.

Recovery following ischemic myelopathies and traumatic spinal cord lesions.

Background: As the general population ages, the rising prevalence of vascular lesions of the spinal cord will become significant. The aim of this study was to compare the neurological and functional outcomes of patients with ischemic spinal cord injury (ISCI) and traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI).

Setting: Spinal cord unit of a rehabilitation hospital in Italy.

Neoplastic myelopathies and traumatic spinal cord lesions: an Italian comparison of functional and neurological outcomes.

Background: Although neoplastic spinal cord injuries (NSCIs) constitute ∼25% of all non-traumatic spinal cord lesions, patients with such pathologies are seldom, if ever, admitted to specialized centers; further, their rehabilitation typically is short because of the perception that rehabilitation prolongs hospital stays unnecessarily and is reserved only for patients with very good prognoses.

Study Design: This study is a retrospective analysis.

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the neurological and functional outcomes of patients with NSCIs compared with those of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI).

Validity and reliability of the 10-m walk test and the 6-min walk test in spinal cord injury patients.

Study Design: The 10-m walk test (10MWT) and the 6-min walk test (6MWT) have been recommended for assessment of walking in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. The study was designed on test-retest analysis of the 10MWT and 6MWT.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess validity/reliability of different methods of performing the tests.

Traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord lesions: an Italian comparison of neurological and functional outcomes.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Objective: To compare the rehabilitation outcomes of non-traumatic and traumatic spinal cord injury patients.

Setting: Spinal cord unit of a rehabilitation hospital in Italy.