Patients with acute traumatic spinal cord injury are tested and documented within a fixed time schedule (acute, 4, 12, 24 and 48 weeks) after spinal cord injury and must comply with clearly defined inclusion criteria. The examinations consist of a standard set of neurological, neurophysiological and functional assessments. The collected data from each center is sent to the coordinating center (Zurich) in regulary time intervals to be joined into a central database.
A total of 19 paraplegic centers build up a close collaboration to discuss, plan and realize prospective studies within the scope of:
- the relationship between electrophysiological, neurophysiological and functional measurements
- the prognostic value of the measurement outcome
- the mechanisms of spontaneous recovery
- investigate the efficacy of new treatment strategies
Over 5000 patients (October 2020) with spinal cord injury are included in the EMSCI database. Several publications have emerged by the member hospitals of the project. Finally a network (EUCTN -European clinical trials network) has been founded to serve as contact for industrial clinical trials.
The success of our network can be measured by the undoubtedly high number of scientific publications and their corresponding noteworthy impact factor. Scientific publications demonstrate the quality of an academic network and EMSCI currently has the largest publishing record of all SCI networks in the world.