Spinal decompression surgery may alleviate vasopressor-induced spinal hemorrhage and extravasation during acute cervical spinal cord injury in rats

Cervical spinal injury often disrupts the supraspinal vasomotor pathways projecting to the thoracic sympathetic preganglionic neurons, leading to cardiovascular dysfunction. The current guideline is to maintain the mean arterial blood pressure at 85 –90 mmHg using a vasopressor during the first week of the injury. Some studies have demonstrated that this treatment might be beneficial to alleviate secondary injury and improve neurological outcomes; however, elevation of blood pressure may exacerbate spinal hemorrhage, extravasation, and edema, exacerbating the initial injury.
Source: The Spine Journal - Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Tags: Basic Science Source Type: research