Gross Morphological Changes of the Spinal Cord Immediately After Surgical Decompression in a Large Animal Model of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Decompression of an acute SCI may result in residual cord deformation followed by gradual swelling or immediate swelling leading to subarachnoid occlusion. The response is dependent on initial injury severity. These observations may partly explain the lack of benefit of decompression in some patients and suggest a need to reduce cord swelling to optimize the clinical outcome after acute SCI.