Spinal cord injury is a result of damage inflicted on the bundle of cells and nerves that is responsible for sending and receiving signals from the brain to the body. Injuries are often sustained from catastrophic and life-threatening incidents like motor vehicle accidents, which are among the most common causes of spinal cord injuries.

Why is Spinal Cord Injury Being Studied in Clinical Trials?

Approval for new drugs, treatments, and clinical trials on spinal cord injury patients takes several years to accomplish. Clinical trials for spinal cord injuries are extremely fundamental in order to properly distinguish and note the temporal profile of rehabilitation in patients with spinal cord injuries.

How Do Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trials Work?

Spinal cord injury clinical trials are most often performed in consecutive phases. Each trial begins with the recruitment of eligible participants who have sustained some form of spinal cord injury.

The study entitled “Feasibility of Early Gabapentin as an Intervention for Neurorecovery” is one example of how spinal injury clinical trials typically work.

The study is an ongoing clinical trial based in Cleveland, Ohio, at the MetroHealth Medical Center. Gabapentin, the primary treatment, is being used on forty-two participants as a medication for neuropathic pain. Participants are divided into three separate groups, where two are experimental groups, and one represents the control group. Each experimental group is given an oral dose of the treatment–one medium and one low–three times per day for ninety days. The control group, or the PlaceboComparator group, is assigned to intake placebo capsules of inert cellulose.

What are Some Key Breakthrough Clinical Trials Involving Spinal Cord Injury?

2013: A study by Wu et. al found that ferulic acid modified glycol chitosan (FA-GC) treatment conserved axons and myelin. This was significant because the treatment was able to minimize cavity volume, astrogliosis, and inflammatory reaction at the site of trauma.

2020: A study from the Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University and the Graduate School of Dalian Medical University found that transcranial magnetic stimulation, functional electrical stimulation, and robotic-assisted treadmill training enhanced walking speed, lower extremity function, and upper extremity independence. This was significant because it found that activity-based intervention was effective in improving function in spinal cord injury patients.

Who are the Key Opinion Leaders in Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trial Research?

Wei Wu, BMED, Ph.D., is an assistant research professor of neurological surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine. He is an expert neurobiologist and researcher whose focus is centered on neuroprotection, axonal regeneration, and functional recovery of traumatic spinal cord injuries. Dr. Wu has achieved groundbreaking discoveries on neuromodulation in the cortex, neurotrophic factors, mitochondria transportation, polypharmacology, and nonlinear optical imaging.

Colin McCaig, BSc (Hons), Ph.D., is a regius professor of psychology in the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland. He has gained multiple prestigious awards, such as a Beit Memorial Research Fellowship in 1983 and a Wellcome Trust University Award Lecturer in 1988. At this time, Professor McCaig is a research member of a group named Aberdeen Nerve Repair Group, which is composed of world-leading research experts on nerve growth guidance, tissue engineering, and preclinical modeling of spinal cord injury.

Top Hospitals For Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trials

Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a hospital-based in Chicago, Illinois, is the leading hospital for spinal cord injury clinical trials. It began its first clinical trial in 2013 and, in the following years, it has amassed a total of twenty all-time trials for spinal cord injury. Twelve spinal cord injury clinical trials are actively being held at the rehabilitation center.

Previously known as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), Shirley Ryan AbilityLab has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the top hospital for thirty-two consecutive years. The hospital offers rehabilitation for conditions other than spinal cord injuries, such as traumatic brain injury and stroke recovery.

Other top hospitals and research institutes for spinal cord injury clinical trials are listed below.

Top Treatments for Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trials

The top treatment used in spinal cord injury clinical trials is epidural stimulation.

It was first used in spinal cord injury trials in 2013. Epidural stimulation is used in two active studies today.

Other top treatments for spinal cord injury clinical trials include robotic gait training, active deep brain stimulation (DBS), enhanced medical rehabilitation (EMR), and electrophysiology assessment of the corticospinal tract.

You can see more top treatment options for spinal cord injury below.

Top Cities for Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trials

The top city for spinal cord injury clinical trials is Chicago, located in the state of Illinois. It is where Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is located. The health facility is listed as the hospital conducting the most trials on spinal cord injury. At present, it is conducting twenty-four active clinical trials. West Orange in New Jersey, Louisville in Kentucky, Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, and the Bronx in New York are among the top cities where clinical trials are conducted.

Which Phases are Most Popular For Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trials?

The most popular phase for spinal cord injury clinical trials is Phase 2. It is currently being performed at one hundred and seventeen active locations. Moreover, the phase is being utilized in nineteen unique treatments by nineteen active spinal cord injury clinical trials.

How many Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trials are Open to Youth and/or Seniors?

There are two hundred and thirty-six trials that are currently active and available to young or senior participants. However, the number of active trials varies per age group.

Six active trials are open to participants that are aged eighteen or below. For participants aged eighteen or over, a total of one hundred and eighty-two clinical trials are accessible. Twenty-seven trials are open to people that are aged between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five. Only two trials are available for participants that are under the age of sixty-five. Lastly, nineteen trials are open to participants of any age.

Most Recent Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trials

The most recent spinal cord injury clinical trials are MyHand-SCI Device Testing for Spinal Cord Injuries, One bout of moderate-intensity sub-maximal aerobic exercise for Spinal Cord Injuries, Electrical stimulation (ES) and pulsed wound irrigation (PWI) for Spinal Cord Injuries, Istradefylline for Spinal Cord Injuries, and Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy for Quadriplegia. Each trial began its recruitment stage in September 2023. Out of all the clinical trials, only the study of Istradefylline for Spinal Cord Injuries is undergoing trial phases.

References:

https://www.withpower.com/trial/phase-4-spinal-cord-injuries-2-2023-9c7f1

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04565366

https://www.travisroyfoundation.org/sci/research/understanding-sci/clinical-trials/

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05302999

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24332460/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33620185/

https://medicine.iu.edu/faculty/22782/wu-wei

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/ims/profiles/c.mccaig

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/ims/research/neuroscience/spinal-injury.php

https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/spinal-cord-injury

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_AbilityLab