Therapeutic trial of combined hypertension and hypercarbia on experimental acute spinal cord injury.
Combined hypertension and hypercarbia, which was found to improve post-traumatic spinal cord hypoxia and presumably ischemia in our previous study, was used in dogs subjected to experimental spinal cord injury to determine its therapeutic effects against acute spinal cord trauma. Intermittent hypertension and hypercarbia therapy, in which 15 minutes of hypertension and 95% O2:5% CO2 gas ventilation were alternated with 10 minutes of air ventilation, was given for 3 hours beginning 3 hours after injury. The treated dogs and untreated control dogs were checked neurologically and electrophysiologically at weekly intervals for up to 8 weeks. The treated dogs showed higher grades of neurological function within 1 week, but the results were statistically insignificant. Both groups demonstrated steady neurological improvement for the next 2 weeks and remained paraparetic thereafter with no group difference. The size of the intramedullary lesion was identical in both groups. Recovery of the somatosensory evoked potentials coincided well with neurological improvement, with again no difference between the two groups.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004285:Dogs; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*
D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D009638:Norepinephrine