title: [Acute traumatic spinal cord injuries: Epidemiology and prospects].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Specify the epidemiological data on the acute spinal cord injuries and define a group of patients that could benefit from cellular transplantation therapy designed with the aim of repair and regeneration of damaged spinal cord tissues.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five years monocentric (Gui-de-Chauliac Hospital, Montpellier, France) retrospective analysis of patients suffering from spinal cord injury (SCI). Spinal cord injured-patients, defined as sensory-motor complete, underwent a clinical evaluation following American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) and functional type 2 Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM2) scorings as well as radiological evaluation through spinal cord magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and fifty-seven medical records were reviewed and we selected and re-examined 20 patients with complete thoracic spinal cord lesion. Clinical and radiological evaluations of these patients demonstrated, in 75 % of the cases, an absence of clinical progression after a mean of 49months. Radiological abnormalities were constantly present in the initial (at the admission to hospital) and control (re-evaluation) MRI and no reliable predictive criteria of prognosis had been found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We compare our results to the literature and discuss advantages and limits of cellular transplantation strategies for these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of neurosurgery, Gui-de-Chauliac Hospital, 80, avenue Augustin-Fliche, 34090 Montpellier, France. n-lonjon@chu-montpellier.fr
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lonjon
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Perrin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lonjon
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fattal
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Segnarbieux
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Privat
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bauchet
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011379:Prognosis; D011859:Radiography; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome