Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32588294›Full record

ArticleActa neurochirurgica2020

Cerebrospinal fluid levels of GFAP and pNF-H are elevated in patients with chronic spinal cord injury and neurological deterioration.

Ulrika Holmström, Parmenion P Tsitsopoulos, Anders Holtz, Konstantin Salci, Gerry Shaw, Stefania Mondello, Niklas Marklund

Open access · hybridAbstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Acta neurochirurgica, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Ulrika HolmströmDepartment of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Parmenion P TsitsopoulosDepartment of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. ptsitsopoulos@auth.gr.
Anders HoltzDepartment of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Konstantin SalciDepartment of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Gerry ShawDepartment of Neuroscience, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Stefania MondelloDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
Niklas MarklundDepartment of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Uppsala University · SEUniversity of Florida · USUniversity of Messina · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundYears after a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), a subset of patients may develop progressive clinical deterioration due to intradural scar formation and spinal cord tethering, with or without an associated syringomyelia. Meningitis, intradural hemorrhages, or intradural tumor surgery may also trigger glial scar formation and spinal cord tethering, leading to neurological worsening. Surgery is the treatment of choice in these chronic SCI patients.

objectiveWe hypothesized that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma biomarkers could track ongoing neuronal loss and scar formation in patients with spinal cord tethering and are associated with clinical symptoms.

methodsWe prospectively enrolled 12 patients with spinal cord tethering and measured glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1), and phosphorylated Neurofilament-heavy (pNF-H) in CSF and blood. Seven patients with benign lumbar intradural tumors and 7 patients with cervical radiculopathy without spinal cord involvement served as controls.

resultsAll evaluated biomarker levels were markedly higher in CSF than in plasma, without any correlation between the two compartments. When compared with radiculopathy controls, CSF GFAP and pNF-H levels were higher in patients with spinal cord tethering (p ≤ 0.05). In contrast, CSF UCH-L1 levels were not altered in chronic SCI patients when compared with either control groups.

conclusionsThe present findings suggest that in patients with spinal cord tethering, CSF GFAP and pNF-H levels might reflect ongoing scar formation and neuronal injury potentially responsible for progressive neurological deterioration.

Indexed as

AdultBiomarkersFemaleGlial Fibrillary Acidic ProteinHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeurofilament ProteinsSpinal Cord InjuriesBiomarkersGlial Fibrillary Acidic Proteinneurofilament protein HNeurofilament ProteinsBiomarkersCerebrospinal fluidGlial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)NeurofilamentPost-traumatic myelopathySpinal cord injurySyringomyeliaTethering of the spinal cord (TSC)Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1)

Identifiers

PMID32588294
PMCPMC7415026
OpenAlexW3038006610

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.