Effect of acute spinal cord compression injury on regional spinal cord blood flow in primates

Spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) was measured in 24 rhesus monkeys after injury to the cord produced by the inflatable circumferential extradural cuff technique. Measurement of regional blood flow in the white and gray matter of the cord in areas of 0.1 sq mm was achieved with the 14C-antipyrine autoradiographic technique and a scanning microscope photometer. After moderate cord injury (400 mm Hg pressure in the cuff maintained for 5 minutes), which produced paraplegia in 50% of animals and moderate to severe paresis in the other 50%, mean white matter SCBF was significantly decreased for up to 1 hour. White matter blood flow then rose to normal levels by 6 hours posttrauma and was significantly increased by 24 hours posttrauma. Gray matter SCBF was significantly decreased for the entire 24-hour period posttrauma. After severe cord injury (150 mm Hg pressure in the cuff maintained for 3 hours), which produced total paraplegia in almost all animals; SCBF in white and hours), which prodced total paraplegia in almost all animals, SCBF in white and gray matter was reduced to extremely low levels for 24 hours posttrauma. In addition, focal decreases in SCBF were seen in white and gray matter for considerable distances proximal and distal to the injury site. It is concluded that acute compression injury of the spinal cord is associated with long-lasting ischemia in the cord that increases in severity with the degree of injury.