Abstract
Study design
Post hoc analysis of prospective multi-national, multi-centre cohort study.
Objective
Determine whether cerebral dominance influences upper extremity recovery following cervical spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting
A multi-national subset of the longitudinal GRASSP dataset (n = 127).
Methods
Secondary analysis of prospective, longitudinal multicenter study of individuals with cervical SCI (n = 73). Study participants were followed for up to 12 months after a cervical SCI, and the following outcome measures were serially assessed - the Graded Redefined Assessment of Strength, Sensibility, and Prehension (GRASSP) and the International Standards for the Neurological Classification of SCI (ISNCSCI), including upper extremity motor and sensory scores. Observed recovery and relative (percent) recovery were then determined for both the GRASSP and ISNCSCI, based on change from initial to last available assessment.
Results
With the exception of prehension performance (quantitative grasping) following complete cervical SCI, there were no significant differences (p < 0.05) for observed and relative (percent) recovery, between the dominant and non-dominant upper extremities, as measured using GRASSP subtests, ISNCSCI motor scores and ISNCSCI sensory scores.
Conclusion
Despite well documented differences between the cerebral hemispheres, cerebral dominance appears to play a limited role in upper extremity recovery following acute cervical SCI.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the GRASSP Research and Development Group for providing the resources to conduct this analysis.
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MB contributed to the study design, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. SK contributed to construction of the analyzed data set, and provided feedback during manuscript preparation. JJD contributed to the data analysis. ASB contributed to the study design, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.
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The authors declare no competing interests.
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The study utilized a subset of the multinational, longitudinal Graded Redefined Assessment of Strength, Sensibility and Prehension (GRASSP) dataset. Research ethics approval was obtained at contributing sites.
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Bondi, M., Kalsi-Ryan, S., Delparte, J.J. et al. Differences in sensorimotor and functional recovery between the dominant and non-dominant upper extremity following cervical spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 60, 422–427 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-022-00782-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-022-00782-1
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