Clinical study of ganglioside (GM) combined with methylprednisolone (MP) for early acute spinal injury

Abstract

This paper aims to make an analysis of the effects of ganglioside (GM) combined with methylprednisolone (MP) in early acute spinal injury. Fifty-three patients with acute spinal cord injury were included in this study and they were randomly divided into experimental and control group. Twenty-seven patients in the control group were treated with MP, while the rest 26 patients received more GM based on that. By observing and comparing the clinical responses from patients and recovery time of all indexes, results came out: the curative rates in the experimental and control group were 50.0%, 40.7% respectively, and the total effective rates were 92.3%, 85.2% respectively. There was a remarkable difference between the two groups (P<0.05). Patients in the experimental group took 6.2±1.9d to restore their sphincter function, 11.2±2.8d to recover their muscle forces to over grade II, and 13.8±3.9d to return general activity, while the patients in the other group clearly spent longer time on recovery, that were 12.1±3.2, 19.2±4.6 and 23.9±5.6 respectively. The distinct difference between the two groups was of statistical significance (P<0.05). We conclude that GM has better curative effects than MP, for it is able to promote the recovery of nerve function for patients and greatly improve the prognosis.