Real-Time Direct Measurement of Spinal Cord Blood Flow at the Site of Compression

Abstract

Duration of ischemia/compression and blood flow recovery of the spinal cord are important factors in the recovery of motor function after a spinal cord injury.

Neurological Recovery Is Impaired by Concurrent but Not by Asymptomatic Pre-existing Spinal Cord Compression After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

“…We found that the SCBF decreased as the spacer size increased immediately after placement of the spacer ( Figure 4 A, B). Although laser Doppler fl owmetry for the CSBF is seldom used in mice, this reduction pattern was consistent with the rat SCBF data reported in a previous study 12 and in our rat model ( Figure 4 C), indicating that our analysis was suffi ciently accurate. At 6 weeks after the spacer placement, the SCBF had fully recovered to the precompression level.…”

“…Measurement was carried out using a noncontact probe (1 mm in diameter), the top of which was connected to soft silicone, as described previously. 12 To confi rm the accuracy and reproducibility of our measurements in mice, we also examined the SCBF of Sprague-Dawley rats (280-300 g, female), which has been measured repeatedly in many previous experiments. 12 -15 To examine the infl uence of pre-existing and concurrent SCS on the SCBF after SCI, we measured the SCBF at the lesion epicenter and adjacent area in mice with the 3 types of SCS (no SCS [control], pre-existing SCS, and concurrent SCS).…”

Intraoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasonography for microcirculatory evaluation in rhesus monkey with spinal cord injury

“…Laser Doppler was a popular, conventional and real time technique for SCBF in previous studies. However, its limited detecting ability was only up to a 3 mm depth of spinal cord [5]. This made it difficult to monitor SCBF in deep spinal cord tissue in large animals.…”

“…These techniques include hydrogen clearance, radioactive tracer microsphere and laser Doppler flowmetry. However, few studies show perfusion changes in parenchyma of contusive spinal cord in overall views and real-time [5]. …”

Rat model of spinal cord injury preserving dura mater integrity and allowing measurements of cerebrospinal fluid pressure and spinal cord blood flow

“…An experimental SCI model allowing simultaneous monitoring of CSF pressure and SCBF would be a valuable tool for investigating the relationships between these two variables. Several models for assessing the effect of SCI on SCBF have been described [12][13][14][15]. Other models characterised by a decrease in the blood supply to the spinal cord have been developed to investigate relationships between SCBF and CSF pressure, but do not involve traumatic SCI [16][17][18].…”