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Biomedical subjects

F C Wagner

Publications and source records attributed to F C Wagner.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Subarachnoid spread of ependymoma: diagnosis and evaluation of therapy by computerized tomography.

The potential of ependymomas to spread throughout the intracranial subarachnoid space is well documented, though the incidence is disputed. This relates in part to the time required for such metastases to produce symptoms. The diagnosis of such spread, however, is important for therapeutic management. This report demonstrates the effectiveness of computerized tomography in diagnosing spread of ependymoma throughout the basal cisterns and cerebral fissures.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Classification of the severity of acute spinal cord injury: implications for management.

Sensory and motor function scales using a comprehensive neurological examination in emergency departments were developed during a 5-year prospective study of the epidemiology of acute spinal cord injury. Cross-classification of the scales on 133 patients identified 18.8 per cent who had severe motor impairment but minimal or no sensory loss. This discrepancy was not associated with older age or comorbidity but these patients tended to have a higher prevalence of fracture dislocations, hyperesthesia and Brown-Sequard Syndrome. The discrepancy between sensory and motor function was almost certainly due to the pathology of the cord lesion. Overall, motor function was more likely than sensory function to show improvement during the acute hospitalisation. This was especially true for patients admitted with good sensory but poor motor function. These patients need to be delineated soon after injury if we are to fully understand the aetiology of spinal cord injury and appropriately manage and evaluate different therapeutic modalities.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1978

Pathological changes from acute to chronic in experimental spinal cord trauma.

The pathological changes occurring in the thoracic spinal cords of 41 cats were studied by light microscopy at 4 hours, 4 weeks, and 4 months after graded transdural trauma. Alterations characteristic of a vascular injury proportionate to the magnitude of the original trauma which results in tissue hypoxia, destruction, and reparation were identified at each interval studied. In more severely injured animals these changes consisted of an initial hemorrhagic infarction followed by the removal of necrotic parenchyma and the development of an adhesive arachnoiditis and intramedullary carvitation. A comparison of the findings in the present investigation with what has been described in postmortem studies of spinal cord injured patients indicates that the response of the spinal cord to non-disruptive trauma is similar in both cases.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Retrospective versus prospective audit: a trial of two methods.

Retrospective and prospective approaches to collecting information were compared in a study of spinal cord injury. The data show that the retrospective approach resulted in some underestimation of cases; that it was a very lengthy, time-consuming process; and that it produced significantly fewer useful clinical data than the prospective method.

Connecticut↗
PubMed1977

The development of intramedullary cavitation following spinal cord injury: an experimental pathological study.

It is concluded from this investigation that localised intramedullary cavitation will develop following non-disruptive spinal cord trauma if the magnitude of original trauma and resulting vascular damage is sufficient. Although an adhesive arachnoiditis also occurs with similar amounts of trauma, the initial vascular damage and subsequent reparative changes within the spinal cord appear to adequately explain the cavitation observed.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

The effects of sacral denervation on bladder and urethral function.

Complete sacral denervation resulted in loss of anal sphincter, detrusor and urethral skeletal muscular activity, but resting urethral smooth muscular sphincter tone was unaffected. The Credé and Valsalva maneuvers in the patients studied did not produce voiding. Spinal anesthesia, however, resulted in a loss of urethral smooth muscular activity. These results affirm the importance of an intact sympathetic nerve supply in maintaining urinary continence.

Denervation↗
PubMed1977

Management of acute spinal cord injury.

Based on the experience with 58 patients with acute spinal cord injuries, a system for rapidly evaluating such patients has been developed. With the knowledge that has been acquired clinically and experimentally of spinal cord injury and with the information provided by laminography and by either air or Pantopaque myelography, a reasonably certain diagnosis of the type of spinal cord injury may be made. Treatment designed to restore neurological function may then be instituted promptly.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1976

Microsurgical anterior cervical myelotomy.

Cervical myelotomy utilizing the anterior approach and the operating microscope in a patient with an acute spinal cord injury is described. The procedure overcomes the technical difficulties previously encountered. The ease with which the hemorrhagic gray matter may be separated from the normal gray and surrounding white matter is emphasized.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

An apparatus for quantitating experimental spinal cord trauma.

An apparatus is described for producing experimental contusion of the spinal cord and simultaneously monitoring the degree of trauma: velocity of spinal cord deformation, impulse and energy. This is accomplished by modifying an existing trauma apparatus by the addition of a displacement transducer, an induction coil triggering device and oscilloscope. With variability in the mechanics of the trauma apparatus and biological variations in each animal (i.e. differences in the visco-elastic properties of the spinal cord, etc.) and in different kinds of animals, this apparatus will more accurately quantitate the trauma delivered to each spinal cord and, thereby, form a better basis for correlation of amount of injury, degree of neurological dysfunction and efficacy of various methods of treatment.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Alterations in nerve cells and myelinated fibers in spinal cord injury.

The morphological alterations occurring in the primate spinal cord following acute nondisruptive trauma resulting in paraplegia were studied by light microscopy at intervals up to three months. Specimens were stained specifically for nerve cells, axon cylinders, myelin sheaths, and free fat. Hypoxic degenerative changes were observed in nerve cells. Initially these consisted of cytoplasmic vacuolation and dispersion of the Nissl substance followed by a progressive decrease in the size and the number of nerve cells seen. Simultaneously in the white matter traumatic degenerative changes were noted. At four and eight hours after injury, structures indicating the severance of axon cylinders and of myelin sheaths were observed. Although shearing of myelinated fibers by the mechanical impact of the injury is suggested, it is not possible in this study clearly to separate the development of alterations in the white matter from the changes occurring in the gray matter.

Animals↗