Citation

Molt JT, Poulos DA, Bourke RS. J. Neurosurg. 1978; 48(6): 985-992.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, American Association of Neurological Surgeons)

DOI

10.3171/jns.1978.48.6.0985

PMID

660251

Abstract

The relationship between the spontaneous spinal electrogram and the degree of spinal cord injury was studied in anesthetic-free, surgically decerebrate cats that received experimental blunt trauma by the graded weight-drop method. It was found that the characteristic spontaneous slow negative potential of the spinal electrogram showed a frequency dependency that correlated positively with the intensity of the injury (impulse expressed in gm-sec). Graphs of the frequency of occurrence of the slow negative potentials as a function of time following initial injury indicated that both the slope and shape of the curve were dependent on the severity of the injury measured in gm-sec at the time of the injury and confirmed histologically. These results indicate that the spontaneous spinal electrogram may serve as a sensitive indicator of the degree of spinal cord injury and may be useful in the assessment of various treatment modalities.

Language: en