Neuromodulation in Spinal Cord Injury Using Transcutaneous Spinal Stimulation—Mapping for a Blood Pressure Response: A Case Series

• Published in: Neurotrauma reports Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 845 - 856
• Main Authors: Engel-Haber, Einat, Bheemreddy, Akhil, Bayram, Mehmed Bugrahan, Ravi, Manikandan, Zhang, Fan, Su, Haiyan, Kirshblum, Steven, Forrest, Gail F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Regular Manuscript; spinal cord injury; blood pressure; spinal cord transcutaneous stimulation; mapping; spinal cord stimulation; cardiovascular
• ISSN: 2689-288X; 2689-288X
• DOI: 10.1089/neur.2024.0066

Spinal cord transcutaneous stimulation (scTS) offers a promising approach to enhance cardiovascular regulation in individuals with a high-level spinal cord injury (SCI), addressing the challenges of unstable blood pressure (BP) and the accompanying hypo- and hypertensive events. While scTS offers flexibility in stimulation locations, it also leads to significant variability and lack of validation in stimulation sites utilized by studies. Our study presents findings from a case series involving eight individuals with chronic cervical SCI, examining the hemodynamic effects of scTS applied in different vertebral locations, spanning from high cervical to sacral regions. Stimulation of the lumbosacral vertebrae region (L1/2, S1/2, and also including T11/12) significantly elevated BP, unlike cervical or upper thoracic stimulation. The observed trend, which remained consistent across different participants, highlights the promising role of lumbosacral stimulation in neuromodulating BP.