Meta-Analysis of Pre-Clinical Studies of Early Decompression in Acute Spinal Cord Injury: A Battle of Time and Pressure

Peter E Batchelor, Taryn E Wills, Peta Skeers, Camila R Battistuzzo, Malcolm R Macleod, David W Howells and Emily S Sena

PLOS ONE, 2013, vol. 8, issue 8, 1-

Abstract: Background: The use of early decompression in the management of acute spinal cord injury (SCI) remains contentious despite many pre-clinical studies demonstrating benefits and a small number of supportive clinical studies. Although the pre-clinical literature favours the concept of early decompression, translation is hindered by uncertainties regarding overall treatment efficacy and timing of decompression. Methods: We performed meta-analysis to examine the pre-clinical literature on acute decompression of the injured spinal cord. Three databases were utilised; PubMed, ISI Web of Science and Embase. Our inclusion criteria consisted of (i) the reporting of efficacy of decompression at various time intervals (ii) number of animals and (iii) the mean outcome and variance in each group. Random effects meta-analysis was used and the impact of study design characteristics assessed with meta-regression. Results: Overall, decompression improved behavioural outcome by 35.1% (95%CI 27.4-42.8; I2=94%, p

Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0072659

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072659

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