Studying Cervical Epidural Electrical Stimulation to Improve Arm and Hand Function After Spinal Cord Injury

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to improve how epidural electrical stimulation EES is applied to the cervical spinal cord to help people with cervical spinal cord injury SCI regain arm and hand function. The study focuses on understanding which cervical spinal levels should be targeted to effectively and selectively activate muscles in the arm and hand. It combines experiments in humans and rats to gather information that will guide future preclinical trials for improving functional recovery after SCI. Participants with cervical myelopathy undergoing cervical spine surgery will receive intraoperative stimulation of the cervical spinal cord. Surgeons will place electrodes on the epidural surface guided by preoperative MRI, then test motor evoked responses by adjusting stimulation intensity and parameters such as frequency, pulse count, pulse shape, and electrode positioning. This procedure aims to identify the best stimulation sites and settings to recruit arm and hand muscles. During the study, researchers will monitor the efficacy and selectivity of epidural spinal cord stimulation within 0 to 100 milliseconds after each stimulation event. The study involves short-term physiological experiments during surgery and tracks responses to stimulation at different cervical segments. The total participation time aligns with the surgical procedure and data collection. The study is sponsored by Columbia University and will run until June 2026.

Targeting Cervical Epidural Spinal Cord Stimulation for Functional Recovery