Spinal cord injury in small animals 2. Current and future options for therapy

Although there can be substantial spontaneous improvements in functional st atus after a spinal cord injury. therapeutic intervention is desirable in m any patients to improve the degree of recovery. At present only decompressi ve surgery and the neuroprotective drug methylprednisolone sodium succinate are effective and in widespread clinical use. There are limitations to the efficacy of these therapies in some clinical cases and they cannot restore satisfactory functional status to all patients. Many drugs have been inves tigated experimentally to assess their potential to preserve injured tissue and promote functional recovery in clinically relevant settings, and sever al of them would be suitable for assessment in future veterinary clinical t rials. In addition, experimental techniques designed to mould the response of the CNS to injury, by the promotion of axonal regeneration across the le sion and the encouragement of local sprouting of undamaged axons, have rece ntly been successful, suggesting that effective therapy for even very sever e spinal cord injury may soon be available.