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Investigating neurogenic bowel in experimental spinal cord injury: where to begin?

ABSTRACT: The devastating losses following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) encompass the motor, sensory and autonomic nervous systems. Neurogenic bowel is a slow transit colonic dysfunction marked by constipation, rectal evacuation difficulties, decreased anorectal sensation, fecal incontinence or some combination thereof. Furthermore, neurogenic bowel is one of the most prevalent comorbidities of SCI and is recognized by afflicted individuals and caregivers as a lifelong physical and psychological challenge that profoundly affects quality of life. The restoration of post-injury control of movement has received considerable scientific scrutiny yet the daily necessity of voiding the bowel and bladder remains critically under-investigated. Subsequently, physicians and caregivers are rarely presented with consistent, evidence-based strategies to successfully address the consequences of dysregulated voiding reflexes. Neurogenic bowel is commonly believed to result from the interruption of the supraspinal control of the spinal autonomic circuits regulating the colon. In this mini-review, we discuss the clinical challenges presented by neurogenic bowel and emerging pre-clinical evidence that is revealing that SCI also initiates functional remodeling of the colonic wall concurrent with a decrease in local enteric neurons. Since the enteric input to the colonic smooth muscle is the final common pathway for functional contractions of the colon, changes to the neuromuscular interface must first be understood in order to maximize the efficacy of therapeutic interventions targeting colonic dysfunction following SCI.

SUBMITTER: White AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6301179 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Investigating neurogenic bowel in experimental spinal cord injury: where to begin?

White Amanda R AR Holmes Gregory M GM

Neural regeneration research 20190201 2

The devastating losses following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) encompass the motor, sensory and autonomic nervous systems. Neurogenic bowel is a slow transit colonic dysfunction marked by constipation, rectal evacuation difficulties, decreased anorectal sensation, fecal incontinence or some combination thereof. Furthermore, neurogenic bowel is one of the most prevalent comorbidities of SCI and is recognized by afflicted individuals and caregivers as a lifelong physical and psychological cha ...[more]

PMID: 30531001

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Project description:BackgroundIschemic spinal cord injury (SCI) belongs to the heterogeneous group of non-traumatic SCI, while the course of sensorimotor and functional recovery is comparable to traumatic SCI. Recently, we derived from data of patients with traumatic SCI a valid model to predict an independent and reliable bowel management one year after SCI.AimTo evaluate the performance of this model to predict an independent and reliable bowel management one year following ischemic SCI.DesignPrognostic study - observational study.SettingEuropean Multicenter Study about Spinal Cord Injury (EMSCI) ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01571531.PopulationOne hundred and forty-two patients with ischemic SCI of various level and severity of injury.MethodsThe prediction model relied on a single predictor collected within 40 days from injury, the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury total motor score. Bowel outcome one year after SCI derived from the dichotomization of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM) item 7 scores. We defined a positive outcome as independent bowel management with regular movements and appropriate timing with no or rare accidents (score of 10 in SCIM version II and score of 8 or 10 in version III).ResultsThe model showed a fair discrimination with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.780 (95% confidence interval=0.702-0.860). In addition, the model displayed an acceptable accuracy and calibration.ConclusionsThe study extends the validity of our rule to patients with ischemic SCI, thus providing the first model to predict an independent and reliable bowel management in this population.Clinical rehabilitation impactThe model may be employed in clinical practice to counsel patients, to define the rehabilitation aims and to estimate the need of assistance after discharge, as well as in the research field for the optimization of patients' allocation in the design of future clinical trials.

Dataset Information

Investigating neurogenic bowel in experimental spinal cord injury: where to begin?

Publications

Investigating neurogenic bowel in experimental spinal cord injury: where to begin?

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