ABSTRACT

Spinal injury remains one of the most intractable of medical challenges. Recent technological and surgical innovation, however, offer hope for better outcomes. This research paper reviews several experiments, including the efficiency of basal metabolic stem cells, utilization of chitosan/collagen scaffolds, and diffusion tensor imaging. Stem cells are cells that can turn into virtually any cell necessary in the body, which include neurons that make up the spinal cord. The synthetic scaffolds can be created to act as supportive frameworks for these cells to develop in just the right locations to promote healing as well as restoration of locomotor function. Diffusion tensor imaging is cutting-edge technology that enables far better monitoring of spinal healing than MRI. Additionally, spinal surgery outcomes, with their inherent risks, have been greatly improved by computer-assisted navigation and surgical robotics. Many of these new technologies (such as the introduction of stem cells into the human body) have been relatively successful in treating spinal ailments; however, others, such as using laminal decompression to treat a penetrating spinal injury (such as from bullet wounds), have been found to be almost completely ineffective. Interestingly, it was found that newer technologies can actually lower the cost of spinal surgeries as a whole. It was concluded that many of the advances reviewed in this paper offer much hope of greatly improved surgical and treatment outcomes for those suffering from spinal cord injuries.