Because of legal restrictions, MOMSCIS cannot give specific medical advice. The following information is not a substitute for the personal care or advice of your physician. Please discuss any concerns with your physician regarding your medical care. Physicians in the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia are available to evaluate patient records, and can set up a clinic visit for a medical evaluation. The PM&R Department does extensive treatment of individuals with spinal cord injuries using a wide variety of physical therapies and state-of-the-art medications. Individuals with spinal cord injuries can be examined and treated on an outpatient or inpatient basis. For more information about the PM&R services available or to schedule a clinic visit, telephone the clinic at (573) 884-0033.

New research to benefit individuals with SCI

By Michael Acuff, M.D.
MOMSCIS Spinal Cord Injury Specialist

Q: What research is being done in the field of spinal cord injury cure that might be beneficial to me or other individuals with spinal cord injury?

A: There have been many areas of advancement in the science of understanding spinal cord injury as well as possible treatments for improving nerve function after spinal cord injury over the last 10 years. These treatments can be divided into several categories:

It has been exciting because in all of these areas there have been some advancements in treatments or approaches for improvement for individuals with spinal cord injury. Most of these treatments or approaches are at the animal study or very small clinical human study phase of research.

There is one promising treatment that is close to federal Food and Drug Administration approval after finishing up a multi-center clinical trial that is being conducted the last part of this year. This treatment involves a medication called 4-AP (or Aminopyridine). The medication is most effective for individuals who have an incomplete spinal cord injury with some feeling or movement well below the level of their injury that extends into some bowel or bladder function. This study hopes to involve more than 100 subjects and be carried out by more than 30 sites in United States and Canada. We will be participating in this clinical trial in Missouri. To qualify for this trial, individuals must have an incomplete spinal cord injury. They must have spasms in their lower extremities with an injury above the T10 spinal level and they must be in stable medical condition. I plan on entering only five to eight individuals in our region into this study to get the best possible results.We expect that patients will experience improvement in spasms as well as other areas of function, including bowel, bladder and sexual function.

With basic science research in spinal cord injury continuing, there is progress that is being made and the chances of improving quality of life as well as life expectancy after spinal cord injury are great. An individual with spinal cord injury, in order to benefit from advances in spinal cord injury research, should be focused on maintaining the best possible medical and physical health that they can and be in the best shape possible to benefit from new treatment as therapies become available when they have been shown to be effective.