Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Considerations and Challenges

Spinal cord injury (SCI) occurring in C through T2 are the most severe injuries requiring a great amount of advance planning, education and on-boarding of sites, and are performed in Level 1 Trauma Emergency Rooms (ERs) in the U.S., and the largest hospitals accepting these critical patients in ex-U.S. countries. Proactive planning is also necessary for transferring patients from ICU to new rehab hospitals/facilities, support of caregivers and travel reimbursements. Due to the emergency nature of these studies, the consent process requires careful design, accounting for the legal representative signing consent initially and then re-consenting once the patient is stable and determined to be able to consent.