Comparison of the Data Classification Approaches to Diagnose Spinal Cord Injury

In our previous study, we have demonstrated that analyzing the skin impedances measured along the key points of the dermatomes might be a useful supplementary technique to enhance the diagnosis of spinal cord injury (SCI), especially for unconscious and noncooperative patients. Initially, in order to distinguish between the skin impedances of control group and patients, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used as the main data classification approach. However, in the present study, we have proposed two more data classification approaches, that is, support vector machine (SVM) and hierarchical cluster tree analysis (HCTA), which improved the classification rate and also the overall performance. A comparison of the performance of these three methods in classifying traumatic SCI patients and controls was presented. The classification results indicated that dendrogram analysis based on HCTA algorithm and SVM achieved higher recognition accuracies compared to ANN. HCTA and SVM algorithms improved the classification rate and also the overall performance of SCI diagnosis

The Short History of Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation in Turkey

There has been a significant progress in the historical journey of the spinal cord injury rehabilitation in Turkey. In our article, this development process will be evaluated according to scientific publications and the esteemed scientists who have played a role in this process will be mentioned. Turk J Phys Med Rehab 2010; 56 Suppl 2:59-6

Thoracolumbar myxopapillary ependymoma and cervical meningotheliomatous meningioma in the patient with spinal cord injury

In this study, we want to present the first case of thoracolumbar myxopapillary ependymoma and cervical meningotheliomatous meningioma in the patient with spinal cord injury. Because of early diagnosis and proper rehabilitation program patient's ability to walk independently is very well developed. A 66-year-old woman with lower extremity paralysis underwent further examination that revealed T12-L1 intradural-extramedullary tumor and was operated for myxopapillary ependymoma. As she had another attack of muscular weakness during home rehabilitation program. Owing to upper extremity weakness and muscle atrophy, cervical magnetic resonance imaging scan was performed and a C3-T1 extradural extensive tumor was detected. After neurosurgical consultation, the tumor (meningotheliomatous meningioma) was totally excited. After having been operated for 2 different kind of tumor at 2 different part of the spinal cord, the patient improved well with rehabilitation to be able to walk with a walker and then normally in the subsequent follow-up. We can emphasize the importance of detailed historical evaluation of patients and complete physical and neurologic examination in order not to overlook important clinical pathologies signs and symptoms

Validation of Duruoz Hand Index in patients with tetraplegia

Study design: Cross-sectional, clinical measurement

Alteration of facet joint orientation and asymmetry with time in lumbar disc herniation

In the previous studies, the facet tropism and its relation to the development of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) were investigated. However, these studies have shown inconsistent conclusions. The aim of this study was to investigate the alteration of facet joint angle and (a)symmetry in LDH. Fifty-four patients with LDH were included. In the first and second computed tomography images, all facet angles were measured from the similar axial slice by the same observer who was blinded with regard to the date of computed tomography scan. Total reproducibility of the variability was found to be 1.85 degrees. Thirty-one patients had a change in the orientation of at least I facet joint. The mean rate of the change in the facet orientation varied from 2.69 to 3.63 degree/y. The most common observed change in the orientation was sagittalization. Females, taller patients, cases with median herniation, and patients with longer course of LDH had a higher risk of this change (P = 0.011). The facet asymmetry was found to develop in 7 patients and to recover in 7 patients (P = 0.002). The facet orientation could change and the facet asymmetry could develop or recover in the same patient with time in LDH. These results could explain contradictory results in the literature

Gender and Hand Dominance as Predictors of Forearm Disuse Osteoporosis in Patients with Traumatic Upper Extremity Injury

Objective: Immobilization of an injured extremity leads to a rapid loss of bone. It is somewhat unclear why one traumatic insult should give rise to bone loss in one patient, while the identical insult in another patient does not. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there were other risk factors for disuse osteoporosis, in addition to immobilization

A quantitative skin impedance test to diagnose spinal cord injury

The purpose of this study was to develop a quantitative skin impedance test that could be used to diagnose spinal cord injury (SCI) if any, especially in unconscious and/or non-cooperative SCI patients. To achieve this goal, initially skin impedance of the sensory key points of the dermatomes (between C3 and S1 bilaterally) was measured in 15 traumatic SCI patients (13 paraplegics and 2 tetraplegics) and 15 control subjects. In order to classify impedance values and to observe whether there would be a significant difference between patient and subject impedances, an artificial neural network (ANN) with back-propagation algorithm was employed. Validation results of the ANN showed promising performance. It could classify traumatic SCI patients with a success rate of 73%. By assessing the experimental protocols and the validation results, the proposed method seemed to be a simple, objective, quantitative, non-invasive and non-expensive way of assessing SCI in such patients