Stem Cell Research - Spinal Cord Injury

Stem Cell Research - Spinal Cord Injury

Introduction

A spinal cord injury occurs when a traumatic event such as car accidents or motorcycle, diving, assault with a firearm or fall resulting in injury to the spinal structures interrupting the passage through the spinal nerve stimuli. The injury may be complete or incomplete. The lesion is complete when there is no voluntary movement below the level of the lesion is incomplete and when there is a voluntary movement or sensation below the level of injury. The bone can also be damaged by disease (non-traumatic), for example, bleeding, tumors and virus infections.

Discussion

In total spinal cord injuries, no paralysis, loss of all sensory modalities (tactile, painful, for temperature, pressure and location of body parts in space) below the injury and alteration of sphincter control (urinary and fecal). Cervical lesions determine high tetraplegia (paralysis of all four limbs). In tetraplegia, respiratory failure is often due to impaired nerve that controls the contraction of the diaphragm (phrenic nerve). In the lower cervical lesions, there is paralysis of the lower limbs and hands. In the chest, the paralysis is of lower limbs.

In spinal cord injuries (spinal syndromes earlier), there is involvement of the anterior two thirds of the spinal cord, manifested by sensory and motor function below the injury level, with profound sensitivity (vibratory sense and position of body parts in space ) is preserved. This syndrome suggests an anterior compression of the spinal cord as associated with herniated discs traumatic or ischemic lesions secondary (Boltze, 1994, pp.127-130).

Around 1.3 million Americans continually endure through spinal cord injuries. In California, virtually 140,000 people are living with this damage which seriously affects their ability to move sense and function normally. Recuperation from spinal cord injury is usually partial, even after the emergency interference and insistent steroid injections, pursued by therapy. The stem cell ...