title: Functional outcome after experimental cauda equina compression.
abstract: Spinal nerve roots often sustain compression injuries. We used a Wistar rat model of the cauda equina syndrome to investigate such injuries. Rapid transient compression of the cauda equina was produced using a balloon catheter. The results were assessed by daily neurological examination and somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) recording before surgery and ten weeks after decompression. Compression of the spinal nerves induced changes in the SEP which persisted for up to ten weeks after decompression, but it had no effect on the final neurological outcome. Our study shows the importance of early surgical decompression for cauda equina syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Sayegh
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Kapetanos
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Symeonides
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Anogiannakis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Madentzidis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002420:Cauda Equina; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009408:Nerve Compression Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D009482:Neurophysiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors