Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Oct 2020
Tissue bridges predict neuropathic pain emergence after spinal cord injury.
To assess associations between preserved spinal cord tissue quantified by the width of ventral and dorsal tissue bridges and neuropathic pain development after spinal cord injury. ⋯ Larger width of ventral tissue bridges-a proxy for spinothalamic tract function-at 1 month post-spinal cord injury is associated with the emergence and maintenance of neuropathic pain and increased pin-prick sensation. Spared ventral tissue bridges could serve as neuroimaging biomarkers of neuropathic pain and might be used for prediction and monitoring of pain outcomes and stratification of patients in interventional trials.