Hormonal therapy in traumatic spinal cord injury

Traumatic spinal cord injuries are major health problems and the underlying pathophysiological events and treatment strategies are currently under investigation. In this article, we critically reviewed the literature investigating the effects of estrogen, progesterone, and human chorionic gonadotropin on spinal cord damage or preservation following traumatic spinal cord injury. The National Library of Medicine database was searched through December 2016 using PubMed for articles addressing the clinical relevance of the hormones to improve neural structural integrity following traumatic spinal cord injury. It was found that each of these hormones, through varied mechanisms, could serve to reduce the harmful effects associated with spinal cord injury, and could aid in restoring some function to the injured spinal cord in the animal models. The most striking effects were seen in the reduction of inflammation commonly linked to injury of the central nervous system. The effects of human chorionic gonadotropin administration following spinal cord injury have received far less attention than those of either estrogen or progesterone, and additional inquiry could be of general benefit. In this article, we discussed the outstanding questions and suggested future directions for further investigation.