This retrospective study analyzed prognostic factors for neurological improvement and ambulation in 194 adult patients (≥ 15 years) with traumatic cervical spinal cord injuries treated at the neurological SCI unit (SCIU) at the Karolinska University Hospital Stockholm, Sweden, between 2010 and 2020. The primary outcome was American spinal injury association impairment scale (AIS) improvement, with secondary focus on ambulation restoration. Results showed 41% experienced AIS improvement, with 51% regaining ambulation over a median follow-up of 3.7 years. Significant AIS improvement (p < 0.001) and reduced bladder/bowel dysfunction (p < 0.001) were noted. Multivariable analysis identified initial AIS C-D (< 0.001), central cord syndrome (p = 0.016), and C0-C3 injury (p = 0.017) as positive AIS improvement predictors, while lower extremity motor score (LEMS) (p < 0.001) and longer ICU stays (p < 0.001) were negative predictors. Patients with initial AIS C-D (p < 0.001) and higher LEMS (p < 0.001) were more likely to regain ambulation. Finally, older age was a negative prognostic factor (p = 0.003). In conclusion, initial injury severity significantly predicted neurological improvement and ambulation. Recovery was observed even in severe cases, emphasizing the importance of tailored rehabilitation for improved outcomes.

UNASSIGNED: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a debilitating condition characterized by compression of the cervical spinal cord, leading to neurological deficits. This study aimed to investigate the association between comorbidities like diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity and quality of life (QOL) in preoperative patients with DCM, and to examine the distribution of pain and numbness.
UNASSIGNED: A cross-sectional study with 86 preoperative patients with DCM was conducted. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) including Core Outcome Measure Index for the neck (COMI-Neck), Neck Disability Index (NDI), EQ-5D-3L, SF-12v2 assessed QOL, and baseline characteristics were collected. Patients were categorized by diabetic and obesity status, resulting in 17 with and 69 without DM, and 27 obese, 59 nonobese patients. In the statistical analysis, we compared PROMs and baseline characteristics, and conducted MANCOVA to investigate the association of DM and obesity with PROMs.
UNASSIGNED: The study found no significant differences in preoperative QOL between patients with and without DM or obesity. Additionally, the results of MANCOVA indicated that neither DM nor obesity alone, nor their combination, had an association with the total scores of PROMs. In each group, the Symptom-specific well-being score on the COMI-Neck was notably high, implying distressing current symptoms (median: 10). On the NDI, the median score for pain intensity, lifting, work, and recreation subitems was 3. Pain was predominantly reported in the neck and lower back, while numbness was more prevalent in the peripheral regions of the upper and lower limbs.
UNASSIGNED: Preoperative QOL was not significantly affected by the presence of DM and/or obesity. DCM-related symptoms may mask the associations with these comorbidities. Regardless of the preoperative condition, it is important to address the PROMs items that posed challenges before surgery.

The primary aim of this study is to assess the viability of employing multimodal radiomics techniques for distinguishing between cervical spinal cord injury and spinal cord concussion in cervical magnetic resonance imaging. This is a multicenter study involving 288 patients from a major medical center as the training group, and 75 patients from two other medical centers as the testing group. Data regarding the presence of spinal cord injury symptoms and their recovery status within 72 h were documented. These patients underwent sagittal T1-weighted and T2-weighted imaging using cervical magnetic resonance imaging. Radiomics techniques are used to help diagnose whether these patients have cervical spinal cord injury or spinal cord concussion. 1197 radiomics features were extracted for each modality of each patient. The accuracy of T1 modal in testing group is 0.773, AUC is 0.799. The accuracy of T2 modal in testing group is 0.707, AUC is 0.813. The accuracy of T1 + T2 modal in testing group is 0.800, AUC is 0.840. Our research indicates that multimodal radiomics techniques utilizing cervical magnetic resonance imaging can effectively diagnose the presence of cervical spinal cord injury or spinal cord concussion.

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord infarction is an uncommon nervous system disorder. We present a case of high cervical cord infarction caused by stenting of the origin of the left vertebral artery (VA). The incidence of spinal cord infarction is minimal, and it must be distinguished from a number of other disorders. The diagnosis is primarily based on imaging, clinical symptoms, and history. Currently, there is no focused treatment for spinal cord infarction. Thrombolysis, high-dose glucocorticoid shocks, tube dilatation to promote circulation, and nutritional neurotropic medicines given early in the course of the disease can all help to slow the disease\'s progression. There is no agreement on the etiology, diagnosis, or therapy options for these people.
METHODS: On October 7, 2023, an 81-year-old man was admitted to the hospital primarily for recurrent chest tightness and pain that had persisted for more than 2 years and 1 month. Cerebral angiography upon admission revealed significant blockage of the right VA and stenosis of the left vertebral arterial origin. Six days following admission, a drug-eluting stenting procedure was carried out under local anesthesia to open the left VA origin via the femoral artery. Following the procedure, the patient experienced a progressive loss of muscle strength in all 4 limbs and paraplegia below the cervical 3 spinal cord. One week following the procedure, the patient was released from the hospital. After the procedure, the patient was released 1 week later. After the procedure, the patient\'s symptoms persisted for a month.
CONCLUSIONS: High awareness for high cervical cord infarction is required when neck discomfort and limb weakness with progressive progression arises after surgery. Complications of high cervical cord infarction following stenting for stenosis of VA origin are uncommon in clinical settings. Patients\' prognoses can be improved by prompt diagnosis and care.

Spinal cord (SC) atrophy obtained from structural magnetic resonance imaging has gained relevance as an indicator of neurodegeneration in various neurological disorders. The common method to assess SC atrophy is by comparing numerical differences of the cross-sectional spinal cord area (CSA) between time points. However, this indirect approach leads to considerable variability in the obtained results. Studies showed that this limitation can be overcome by using a registration-based technique. The present study introduces the Structural Image Evaluation using Normalization of Atrophy on the Spinal Cord (SIENA-SC), which is an adapted version of the original SIENA method, designed to directly calculate the percentage of SC volume change over time from clinical brain MRI acquired with an extended field of view to cover the superior part of the cervical SC. In this work, we compared SIENA-SC with the Generalized Boundary Shift Integral (GBSI) and the CSA change. On a scan-rescan dataset, SIENA-SC was shown to have the lowest measurement error than the other two methods. When comparing a group of 190 Healthy Controls with a group of 65 Multiple Sclerosis patients, SIENA-SC provided significantly higher yearly rates of atrophy in patients than in controls and a lower sample size when measured for treatment effect sizes of 50%, 30% and 10%. Our findings indicate that SIENA-SC is a robust, reproducible, and sensitive approach for assessing longitudinal changes in spinal cord volume, providing neuroscientists with an accessible and automated tool able to reduce the need for manual intervention and minimize variability in measurements.

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord infarction (SCI) is a rare disease representing nearly 1% of all strokes with a wide variety of symptoms at presentation. SCI diagnosis is very challenging owing to its low incidence and the variety of symptoms, and could be misdiagnosed with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD).
METHODS: We describe the case of an 18-year-old girl who presented to the emergency department with acute neck pain and flaccid paralysis of the left upper and lower extremities. Few hours later, she developed apnea and was endotracheally intubated. Brain MRI was normal but spinal cord MRI revealed non-enhancing longitudinal abnormal high T2 signal intensity extending from C1 to C5. The patient underwent steroid therapy with methylprednisolone (1 g daily for 7 consecutive days) combined with physiotherapy. She was extubated after 3 weeks and discharged after 30 days of hospitalization with a muscle force of 4/5 in her left extremities.
CONCLUSIONS: Idiopathic SCI in adolescence is a rare but often devastating disorder with unknown pathophysiology, however, some specific conditions in adolescent such as mechanical stresses on the immature spine can be considered as risk factors for SCI development. Early diagnosis and treatment can improve outcomes in SCI.

Transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS) is a promising rehabilitative intervention to restore motor function and coordination for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). The effects of TSS are most commonly assessed by evaluating muscle response to stimulation using surface electromyography (sEMG). Given the increasing use of robotic devices to deliver therapy and the emerging potential of hybrid rehabilitation interventions that combine neuromodulation with robotic devices, there is an opportunity to leverage the on-board sensors of the robots to measure kinematic and torque changes of joints in the presence of stimulation. This paper explores the potential for robotic assessment of the effects of TSS delivered to the cervical spinal cord. We used a four degree-of-freedom exoskeleton to measure the torque response of upper limb (UL) joints during stimulation, while simultaneously recording sEMG. We analyzed joint torque and electromyography data generated during TSS delivered over individual sites of the cervical spinal cord in neurologically intact participants. We show that site-specific effects of TSS are manifested not only by modulation of the amplitude of spinally evoked motor potentials in UL muscles, but also by changes in torque generated by individual UL joints. We observed preferential resultant action of proximal muscles and joints with stimulation at the rostral site, and of proximal joints with rostral-lateral stimulation. Robotic assessment can be used to measure the effects of TSS, and could be integrated into complex control algorithms that govern the behavior of hybrid neuromodulation-robotic systems.

Traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (TCSCI) often causes varying degrees of motor dysfunction, common assessed by the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI), in association with the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale. Accurate prediction of motor function recovery is extremely important for formulating effective diagnosis, therapeutic and rehabilitation programs. The aim of this study is to investigate the validity of a novel nested ensemble algorithm that uses the very early ASIA motor score (AMS) of ISNCSCI examination to predict motor function recovery 6 months after injury in TCSCI patients. This retrospective study included complete data of 315 TCSCI patients. The dataset consisting of the first AMS at ≤ 24 h post-injury and follow-up AMS at 6 months post-injury was divided into a training set (80%) and a test set (20%). The nested ensemble algorithm was established in a two-stage manner. Support Vector Classification (SVC), Adaboost, Weak-learner and Dummy were used in the first stage, and Adaboost was selected as second-stage model. The prediction results of the first stage models were uploaded into second-stage model to obtain the final prediction results. The model performance was evaluated using precision, recall, accuracy, F1 score, and confusion matrix. The nested ensemble algorithm was applied to predict motor function recovery of TCSCI, achieving an accuracy of 80.6%, a F1 score of 80.6%, and balancing sensitivity and specificity. The confusion matrix showed few false-negative rate, which has crucial practical implications for prognostic prediction of TCSCI. This novel nested ensemble algorithm, simply based on very early AMS, provides a useful tool for predicting motor function recovery 6 months after TCSCI, which is graded in gradients that progressively improve the accuracy and reliability of the prediction, demonstrating a strong potential of ensemble learning to personalize and optimize the rehabilitation and care of TCSCI patients.

(1) Background: Restoring arm and hand function is one of the priorities of people with cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI). Noninvasive electromagnetic neuromodulation is a current approach that aims to improve upper-limb function in individuals with SCI. The aim of this study is to review updated information on the different applications of noninvasive electromagnetic neuromodulation techniques that focus on restoring upper-limb functionality and motor function in people with cSCI. (2) Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were used to structure the search protocol. A systematic review of the literature was performed in three databases: the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). (3) Results: Twenty-five studies were included: four were on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), four on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), two on transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS), ten on functional electrical stimulation (FES), four on transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), and one on neuromuscular stimulation (NMS). The meta-analysis could not be completed due to a lack of common motor or functional evaluations. Finally, we realized a narrative review of the results, which reported that noninvasive electromagnetic neuromodulation combined with rehabilitation at the cerebral or spinal cord level significantly improved upper-limb functionality and motor function in cSCI subjects. Results were significant compared with the control group when tSCS, FES, TENS, and NMS was applied. (4) Conclusions: To perform a meta-analysis and contribute to more evidence, randomized controlled trials with standardized outcome measures for the upper extremities in cSCI are needed, even though significant improvement was reported in each non-invasive electromagnetic neuromodulation study.

OBJECTIVE: Cervical spinal immobilisation procedures often include rigid cervical collars which, despite associated complications, may provide less immobilisation than previously thought. The present study reports the incidence of worsening neurological outcomes following soft collar application, and additionally reports patient comfort, compliance with spinal immobilisation, and paramedic perspectives on usage.
METHODS: This was an observational cohort study conducted in selected metropolitan and regional areas of NSW Ambulance between 1 May 2022 and 31 March 2023. Soft collars were used exclusively in place of rigid collars. The SPEED (SPinal Emergency Evaluation of Deficits) tool was used to evaluate new or worsening neurological deficits following pre-hospital soft collar application. Secondary outcomes included patient-reported comfort of the device, and paramedic assessment of efficacy.
RESULTS: Overall, 2098 soft collars were applied, of which 74 patients (3.5%) were subsequently found to have a cervical spine injury. Eight patients had a spinal cord injury, of which two experienced a worsening neurological deficit after soft collar application. In both instances, comprehensive case reviews determined that this was unlikely to have been attributable to the soft collar. The majority of patients found the soft collar comfortable, and they were well-tolerated by patients who generally complied with immobility directions. Paramedics found the collar easy to apply, and felt it assisted in minimising patient movement.
CONCLUSIONS: Pre-hospital use of soft collars does not appear to increase the risk of significant injury. Patients found these devices relatively comfortable, and clinicians reported overall ease of use with good patient compliance with immobility directives.