Patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) often suffer from spinal cord swelling
inside the thecal sac, which contains the spinal cord and surrounding fluid, leading to
increased pressure on the spinal cord tissue and decreased spinal cord blood flow at the site
of injury. The combination of increased pressure and decreased blood flow causes vascular
hypo-perfusion of the spinal cord and exacerbates the severity of injury. This is also
referred to as secondary injury. Thus, knowledge of spinal cord hypo-perfusion would allow
the treating physician to optimize the hemodynamic condition of patient with acute spinal
cord injury and potentially improve functional outcome. We plan to use contrast-enhanced
ultrasound (CEUS) to determine decrease of blood flow in the spinal cord at the site of
injury, during the routine surgery that these patients require to decompress and stabilize
their injured spine. This may help us to determine the efficacy of certain treatments in
improving blood flow and patients suffering from tSCI.