Citation

Furlan JC, Noonan V, Singh A, Fehlings MG. J. Neurotrauma 2011; 28(8): 1445-1477.

Affiliation

Toronto Western Research Institute, University Health Network, Genetics and Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; jfurlan@uhnres.utoronto.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2009.1152

PMID

20030559

PMCID

PMC3143408

Abstract

Spinal cord injury has devastating impact on young human lives causing significant motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunction caudally to the level of injury. The most commonly accepted primary endpoint of the trial on treatment of SCI is an assessment of the degree of impairment. As defined by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health from the World Health Organization (WHO), impairment is related to the level of "motor and sensory function" (WHO, 2001). The instruments of choices for assessment of impairment of SCI in the clinical arena and research areas should preferably be proper for descriptive and evaluative purposes as delineated by the framework of Kirschner and Guyatt (Krischner, 1985). While the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Standards have been widely used to assess motor function and pin-prick and light-touch sensory function, there remained a paucity of an outcome measure that comprehensively assessed autonomic function of individuals with SCI (Krischner, 1985; Krassioukov et al., 2007).To address such problems, an international committee, of representatives from the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA), the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) and other groups performing SCI research recommend standards to describe the impact of SCI on various organs to justify the addition of autonomic standards which would allow the clinicians and researchers alike to appreciate the devastating effects of SCI on autonomic dysfunctions (Alexander et al, 2009), which will require testing in the clinical setting. In addition, the ASIA Standards do not include assessment of pain, which is a major clinical complain in spinal cord injured patients. Given this background, we sought to systematically review the studies that were focused on the psychometric properties of ASIA Standards and all previously used outcome measures of pain in the SCI population.

Language: en