Spinal cord injury research: hopes and problems

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is an important public health problem in world wide, affecting as many as 40 to 80 per million individuals per year, changes in patients’ lifestyles. SCI occurs when sudden trauma cause damage to the spinal cord, common causes include falls, car accident and injuries in sporting events producing devastating physical, social, and vocational impairment. In regard to complex pathophysiology of SCI, to date there are no curative treatments available for this devastating condition; current treatments of SCI only based on stabilizing patients. With continued advances in medicine, several pharmacological targets associated with ameliorating secondary insults including cavity formation, inflammatory responses and demyelination have been identified. Novel therapies have emerged based on neuroprotective and neurodegenerative approaches including cell-based therapy, biomaterial scaffolding, growth factors and inhibitory molecules. Several discoveries at the preclinical level are now transitioning into the clinical arena, despite the promising result in preclinical studies there is no remarkable improvement has been reported; therefore, further research is required to determine the best source of cell as well as the cell dose, the timing and route of administration. More importantly novel combination therapies could be highly effective to restore motor control and sensory improvement on patients’ lives after SCI.

کلیدواژه ها:

Spinal cord injury ، Combination therapies ، Neuroprotective and neurodegenerative approaches