Early Blood Pressure Targets in Acute Spinal Cord Injury

Compared with conventional blood pressure, does early blood pressure augmentation improve long-term neurologic outcomes in acute spinal cord injury?This multicenter randomized clinical trial of 92 patients with spinal cord injury did not find differences in 6-month motor or sensory scores between augmented and conventional blood pressures. The augmented blood pressure group had higher respiratory complications, longer mechanical ventilatory support, and worse organ dysfunction.These findings call into question the efficacy and safety of blood pressure augmentation due to higher complications without appreciable differences in neurologic function.

Corresponding Author: Miriam Treggiari, MD, PhD, MPH, Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University School of Medicine, MSRB III, 3 Genome Ct, Durham, NC 27710 (miriam.treggiari@duke.edu).

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