Researchers at the University of Toronto who treat people with spinal cord injuries have found that taking a medicine called Riluzol can help recovery, says a new study.
The recent one study In Ebiomedicine, he used a new way to analyze the results of clinical trials and, as a result, discovered what researchers say it is an “important advance” in the treatment of serious spinal cord injuries.
Michael Fehlings and Karlo Pedro’s research at Temerrty Medicine taking Riluzol – which is also used to treat Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other diseases of motor neurons can help patients, if taken within 12 hours after injuries.
“This is a very valid and safe treatment option for doctors and patients to consider. There are quite rigorous control data to show that,” says Fehlings, co -director of the Espinal program and professor of the Neurosurgery Division in Temerrty Medicine, as well as Vice President of Research in the Department of Surgery.
The findings in the study were the result of Pedro’s doctoral thesis, which he did under the supervision of Fehlings.
One of the most important conclusions of research is the importance of using the global statistical test (GST) to analyze clinical trial data, says Pedro and Fehlings.
The researchers say that when using the GST, they were able to use the data in a way that tracked the results of the patients in multiple stages, instead of in a single point of time.
They also say that the test did a more comprehensive job by measuring the total effect of the medication on patients, taking into account how riluzol affected things like patients ” Neurological improvement, independent functioning and quality of life.
“I think this is a very useful statistical technique,” says Pedro, assistant professor at the Neurosurgery Division of the Department of Surgery and Clinical Associate at the Western Western Hospital of University Health Network.
“For the first time, we can demonstrate, backed by evidence, that a pharmacological agent with a neuroprotective effect can treat serious spinal cord injuries. These findings help not only patients and doctors, but researchers involved in future clinical trials.”
Pedro moved to Toronto to work with Fehlings, and said his work was based on data from the original riscis (Safety and efficacy of riluzol in the acute study of spinal cord injuries) judgment of 2023.
The findings are based on data collected from 131 patients who had spinal cord injuries, which the researchers followed for a year after the lesions occurred. More than 80 percent of patients were men.
From 131 total patients involved in the study, 65 received Riluzol approximately 12 hours after their injury, for a period of 14 days. The other 66 patients received a placebo, instead.
When the researchers measured how patients were doing six months after the injury, they discovered that taking Riluzol led to 58 percent of “better general results” for people who took the medication, compared to the group that took the placebo.
“An important conclusion for doctors and people with spinal cord injuries is that this work demonstrates that the use of riluzol within 12 hours of an acute spinal cord lesion improves the results, and that these results are significant,” says Fehlings, who is also a clinic-scientific toronto in the Kerembil Cerebil Institute of the Western Hospital Brain and the Spinal Research.
“Our study analyzed the motor recovery of patients, combined with the measurement of their functional independence of the spinal cord and the quality of life of global health results,” says Fehlings. The medicine is also economical and leads to low side effects for patients, he adds.
Fehlings says that study findings will be crucial when it comes to designing future clinical trials and how to evaluate the results of patients.
Fehlings used the example of a person who could recover the use of a finger after a spinal cord injury, and then can operate a phone or computer, which can have a dramatic effect on their quality of life.
“One of the challenges in many neurological conditions is that it is very difficult to have a result measure that precisely evaluates the multidimensional nature of recovery,” says Fehlings.
“What we have established here is a great credit for Pedro, our statistical collaborator Peng Huang of the Johns Hopkins University and international and multi -institutional taxpayers to this study,” says Fehlings. “These findings reinforce the concept of observing the multidimensional nature of recovery, through the use of global statistical test. They also support the findings within the World Health Organization. International Operation, Disability and Health Framework Classificationwhich is integral. “
