Post-traumatic Spinal Injury Research Articles

Complications of Post-Traumatic Spinal Surgery

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the frequency and complications of post-traumatic spinal surgeries. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted at JPMC for six months and included 55 patients presenting with post-traumatic spinal injuries who were operated on. Information on the patient’s demographics, clinical findings, radiological findings, type of surgical procedure, and postoperative complications were recorded. A chi-square test was employed to compare difficulties with demographic characteristics. Results: Our study comprised of patients with an age of 39.55+/-6.19 years; of them, 72.7 percent were males, and overall complications occurred in 30.9 percent of patients, which included wound infection (10.9%), CSF fistula (3.6%), wound dehiscence (1.8%), pneumonia (3.6%), heart arrhythmia (1.8%), lung congestion (1.8%), instrumental loosening (1.8%), postoperative visual loss (1.8%), and diathermy burns (3.6%). Conclusion: 30.9 percent of patients operated for spinal traumatic injuries developed complications. A few of these complications are dreaded and need to be communicated to patients/attendants and necessary steps should be taken to prevent them.

Preparation and Characterization of Sustained Release Matrix Tablets of Tizanidine Hydrochloride for Spinal Injuries

Purpose : To formulate matrix type sustained-release (SR) tablets of tizanidine hydrochloride (TH) for prolonged drug release and improvement in motor activity after spinal injuries. Methods : Matrix tablets were prepared by the wet granulation method using four polymers (hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose [HPMC] K 100, ethyl cellulose [EC], guar gum, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K30) and characterized for hardness, friability, drug content, swelling, weight variation, in vitro drug release, and in vivo motor function activity using the spinal injury rat model. Results : All tablets showed good drug content, hardness, and other physicochemical properties. The tablet formulations showed a percent drug release ranging from 92.54 ± 1.02 to 98.56 ± 1.26 % at the end of 12 h. Using the spinal injury rat model, negative control had a motor activity of only 12.75 %, while F4 (containing HPMC, EC, and PVP) and F5 (containing EC, guar gum, and PVP) had motor activities of 62.25% and 57.5%, respectively, compared with 68.0 % for normal controls. Conclusion : SR matrix tablets of TH showed significant improvement in motor activity in post-traumatic spinal injury rat model. Keywords : Sustained release tablet, Spinal injuries, Matrix tablet, Tizanidine hydrochloride