Design and purpose of the project

Establishing a multi-center basis for future therapeutic interventions in human spinal cord injury (EMSCI)

Sponsor
Internationale Stiftung für Forschung in Paraplegie (IFP), Zürich

Methodology
Patients with acute traumatic spinal cord injury will be tested and documented within a fixed time schedule (acute, 4, 12, 24 and 48 weeks) after spinal cord injury and must comply with clearly defined inclusion criteria. The examinations consist of a standard set of neurological, neurophysiological and functional assessments. The collected data from each center is sent to the coordinating center (Zurich) in regulary time intervals to be joined into a central database.

A total of 18 paraplegic centers build up a close collaboration to discuss, plan and realize prospective studies within the scope of:

the relationship between electrophysiological, neurophysiological and functional measurements
the prognostic value of the measurement outcome
the mechanisms of spontaneous recovery
investigate the efficacy of new treatment strategies.

Progress
In total over 1900 patients (April 2010) with spinal cord injury are included in the EMSCI database. Several publications have emerged by the member hospitals of the project. Finally a new network EUCTN (European clinical trials network) has been founded to serve as contact for industrial clinical trials.