Re: Cappuccino A, Bisson LJ, Carpenter B, et al. The use of systemic hypothermia for the treatment of an acute cervical spinal cord injury in a professional football player. Spine 2010;35:E57-62.

摘要

We read with interest the article published by Cappuccino et al. The authors are to be congratulated for their important contribution in the field. Any potential for improved outcome in the spinal cord-injured patient is a reason for enthusiasm.However, the report has some potential shortcomings with regard to the causal relationship related to therapeutic hypothermia, and the authors' conclusions do not appear to be supported by the data. The concept of local hypothermia in acute spinal cord injury has been extensively investigated in the 1970s and 1980s, mainly based on experimental animal studies. As noted by Pollard et al, the most important prognostic variable related to recovery in a patient with spinal cord injury is the extent of the neurologic impairment (complete vs. incomplete, based on the ASIA scale).