A review of spinal cord perfusion pressure guided interventions in traumatic spinal cord injury

Purpose To evaluate the causality between interventions on spinal cord perfusion pressure and neurological outcome in traumatic spinal cord injury. Methods A systematic review was conducted in concordance with PRISMA guidelines. The literature was found in the EMBASE, PUBMED, SCOPUS, and WEB OF SCIENCE. Eligible studies included those that reported measurements and interventions on the spinal cord perfusion pressure in either animals or patients suffering from spinal cord injury. Only studies that reported a clinical or relevant clinical outcome measure (i.e., neurophysiology) were included. Results The search yielded 795 unique records, and six studies were included after careful review. These studies suggested a positive correlation between spinal cord perfusion pressure and neurological outcome, but conclusions on causality could not be made. Conclusion In spite of growing indications that neurological outcomes are related to the spinal cord perfusion pressure in traumatic spinal cord injuries, a solid conclusion cannot be made due to the limited literature available. Additional well-designed studies are needed to address this issue.