Study Shows Promising Potential for Spinal Cord Injury Treatment
A recent study showed promising results for treating acute spinal cord injuries with mild hypothermia. The Missouri State Senate just passed a bill to increase grants available for similar research.

May 21, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- This past March, a study was published that showed promising results for the use of mild hypothermia in the initial treatment of acute spinal cord injuries. The treatment requires lowering the core body temperature of the spinal cord injury victim in an attempt to decrease swelling in the spinal cord as well as decrease the metabolism rate of the spinal cord cells, thereby minimizing the potential for secondary damage after the initial spinal cord injury.

The study included 14 people who had suffered serious cervical spinal cord injuries. The results of the study showed that the patients receiving mild hypothermia treatments had improved outcomes over those in the control group with similar injuries who did not receive the treatment.

The study was conducted jointly by the Miller School's Department of Neurological Surgery and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Dr. Allan Levi, MD, PhD, led the team in charge of the study. Dr. Levi is a professor of neurological surgery in addition to being the Chief of Neurospinal Services at Jackson Memorial Hospital and Chief of Neurosurgery at the University of Miami Hospital.

Similar cooling treatments have been used to treat other types of injuries, including head injuries, strokes and cardiac arrest. The Miller School and Miami Project study was the first of its kind to clinically evaluate the effects of mild hypothermia in spinal cord injury cases.

Currently, the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center is the only place in the world offering mild hypothermia treatment to those with acute spinal cord injuries. Dr. Levi hopes his study will encourage other teaching hospitals to conduct their own research on the use of the cooling treatment in acute spinal cord injury cases so that it can be determined if this course of treatment should become a standard practice.

Mild Hypothermia May Have Helped Former NFL Player

One of the most notable examples of the potential success of mild hypothermia treatments for spinal cord injuries is the case of Kevin Everett, a former pro-football player with the Buffalo Bills. Everett sustained a life-threatening cervical spinal cord injury in September 2007 while tackling another player during a game against the Denver Broncos. Based on the location of his injury, Everett could have been paralyzed from the neck down.

On the way to the hospital, the Buffalo Bill's assistant team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Andrew Cappuccino administered mild hypothermia treatment in the form of iced saline injections in an attempt to minimize the damage caused by Everett's spinal cord injury. Once Everett arrived at the hospital, he had to undergo surgery to have his spine decompressed and fused. During his surgery, Everett's core body temperature was kept at moderate hypothermic levels.

Following Everett's surgery, his prognosis was still dire and Dr. Cappuccino worried that he might not survive the injury. However, by December of that year, Everett was able to walk again on his own - a remarkable feat considering the severity of his spinal cord injury. Many have attributed Everett's recovery to the use of moderate hypothermia immediately after he suffered the spinal cord injury.

Funding Important to Continued Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Research

While the Everett story and the recent study out of Florida all point to the potential success of using mild hypothermia treatments to minimize the severity of spinal cord injuries, it also is clear that there still are many unknowns about this therapy. Clearly more research is necessary before such a treatment will become a standard medical practice for treating acute spinal cord injuries.

Finding the funding for this important research is one of the biggest obstacles - especially in light of the current budget shortfalls facing university teaching hospitals and other research centers.

Missouri is an example of one state trying to find the much needed funding to continue spinal cord research. Recently, the Missouri State Senate passed a bill that would increase the size of grants available for spinal cord research available at the University of Missouri to $250,000 per project, per year. Currently, the university only has funding available to offer a maximum grant of $50,000.

This type of funding is necessary in order for researchers, physicians and others to continue to develop new ways to treat spinal cord injuries, repair damaged spinal cord tissue and find better ways to improve the quality and quantity of the lives of spinal cord injury survivors.

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