Objective To investigate the effect of methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MP) and mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF) for injection in treating acute spinal cord injury (ASCI) and cauda equina injury. Methods Between December 2004 and December 2007, 43 patients with ASCI and cauda equina injury were treated, including 33 males and 10 females with an average age of 43 years (range, 32-66 years). Injured vertebral columns were C2 in 1 case, C4 in 5 cases, C5 in 7cases, C6 in 3 cases, T8 in 1 case, T10 in 1 case, T11 in 2 cases, T12 in 3 cases, L1 in 9 cases, L2 in 5 cases, L3 in 3 cases, L4 in 1 case, and L5 in 2 cases. All the patients had sensory disturbance and motor dysfunction at admission. The Frankel scale was used for assessment of nerve function, 5 cases were rated as Grade A, 12 as Grade B, 22 as Grade C, and 4 as Grade D before operation. In 43 patients, 23 cases were treated with MP and mNGF (group A), 20 cases with MP only (group B). There was no significant difference in general data between 2 groups (P gt; 0.05). All the patients were admitted, received drug treatment within 8 hours of injury, and were given spinal canal decompression, bone transplantation, and internal fixation within 48 hours. The neurological function score systems of American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) were used for neurological scores before treament, at 1 week and 2 years after treatment. The scores of the activity of daily l iving (ADL) were evaluated and compared. Results All the patients achieved heal ing of incision by first intention. Forty-three cases were followed up 24-61 months with an average of 30 months. Bone graft fusion was achieved after 6-17 months, 11 months on average with stable fixation. No death and compl ications of osteonecrosis and central obesity occurred. There was no significant difference in neurological function scores and ADL scores between 2 groups before treatment (P gt; 0.05); however, the neurological function scores and ADL scores at 1 week and 2 years after treatment were higher than those before treatment (P lt; 0.01) in 2 groups. Group A had higher neurological function scores and ADL scores than group B (P lt; 0.01). At 1 week and 2 years after treatment, the improvement rates of neurological function of group A (47.8%, 11/23 and 91.3%, 21/23) were significantly higher (P lt; 0.01) than those of group B (30.0%, 6/20 and 70.0%, 14/20). Conclusion MP and mNGF play an important role in improving the neurological function in patients with ASCI and cauda equina injury.
ObjectiveTo investigate the risk factors affecting the 28-day neurological outcome after admission of patients with sepsis complicated with consciousness disorder, create a simple scoring system, and evaluate its predictive value for the poor neurological outcome.MethodsWe retrospectively collected and analyzed the demographic data, clinical data, 28-day survival status and neurologic outcome of patients with sepsis complicated with disturbance of consciousness admitted to the Emergency Department of West China Hospital of Sichuan University between June 1st, 2017 and May 31st, 2018. Independent risk factors for the 28-day neurologic outcome of patients with disturbance of consciousness were obtained through univariate analyses and multiple logistic regression analysis, and then the continuous variables of risk factors were converted to binary variables according to the cut-off values from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, a simple scoring system was established and it’s predictive value for 28-day neurological outcome of patients with sepsis complicated with consciousness disorder was assessed.ResultsA total of 149 patients with sepsis complicated with consciousness disorder were included in this study, including 103 males (69.1%) and 46 females (30.9%), with an average age of (58.2±18.6) years old. There were 72 patients (48.3%) with poor outcome of neurological function on Day 28 after admission. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that total bile acid [odds ratio (OR)=1.040, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.004, 1.077), P=0.027], blood ammonia [OR=1.014, 95%CI (1.001, 1.027), P=0.030], pulmonary infection [OR=3.255, 95%CI (1.401, 7.566), P=0.006], and Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) [OR=0.837, 95%CI (0.739, 0.949), P=0.005] were independent influencing factors for the poor neurological function in patients with sepsis complicated with consciousness disorder on Day 28 after admission. The area under the ROC curve predicting the 28-day poor neurological function was 0.754 [95%CI (0.676, 0.832)], and the sensitivity and specificity were 79.2% and 63.6%, respectively.ConclusionFor emergency patients with sepsis complicated with consciousness disorder, a simple scoring system based on early GCS, pulmonary infection, serum ammonia, and total bile acid has a favorable predictive value for short-term neurological function.