The effect of brain atrophy on the motor recovery following spinal cord injury / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the structural changes during the early stage of spinal cord injury,and the relationships between these structural changes and patients' motor recovery.Methods The clinical data of 25 patients with spinal cord injury collected from 2012 October to 2014 March were analyzed retrospectively.The spinal cord injury patients were split into two groups (Good recoverers group and Poor recoverers group) according to the clinical outcome of motor recovery at 6 months follow-up,and there were 10 Good recoverers (ASIA grade:1 A,4 B,3 C,and 2 D) and 15 Poor recoverers (ASIA grade:7 A,3 B,3 C,and 2 D).The study also recruited 25 matched healthy controls.The mean age of Good recoverers,Poor recoverers and healthy controls were 37.9± 13.9,35.8± 11.5 and 36.5±9.3,respectively.Structural MRI was used to investigate the regions with brain structural changes among the three groups.Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships between these structural changes and patients' motor recovery.Results Compared to healthy controls group,both poor recoverers and good recoverers had significantly decreased cortical thickness in the bilateral primary motor cortex.Poor recoverers exhibited more serious and widespread structural damages,in addition to reduced cortical thickness in the primary motor cortex,poor recoverers also showed decreased cortical thickness in the right SMA and premotor cortex when compared to healthy controls.Compared to the healthy controls group,poor recoverers showed reduced white matter volume in the right primary motor cortex and posterior limb of the internal capsule;good recoverers showed no significant difference in white matter microstructure.Furthermore,these structural changes at the internal capsule and primary motor cortex were associated with the motor recovery rate at 6 months follow-up (r=0.75,P＜ 0.001;r=0.76,P＜ 0.001,respectively).Conclusion These findings suggest that spinal cord injury causes significant anatomical changes in the human sensorimotor system in the early phase,and these structural changes directly affect the motor recovery of spinal cord injury.Future treatment aimed at promoting neural function recovery of spinal cord injury patients should pay close attention to the injured brain.