Taking peopleNo phase

Brain and spinal cord changes after spinal cord injury, studied with MRI

Uses MRI to study nervous system changes in people with spinal cord injury.

Key facts

Who runs it: University of Zurich
Where: Switzerland1 site in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
Trial code: NCT03772548
Registry title: CNS Changes Following SCI
Status: Recruiting
People taking part: 450 people, planned
Started: 18 Jul 2018
Expected to end: 30 Jun 2027
Type of study: Observational, 2 groups
Treatments tested: MRI
Record updated: 15 December 2025

Who can take part

AI summary

From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.

The trial is looking for adults with a spinal cord injury, and healthy people for comparison. Everyone has MRI scans of the brain and spinal cord.

Age: 18 to 75 years
Sex: All sexes
Disease stage: Patients: spinal cord injury from an accident or another cause (para- or tetraplegia), from acute (<4 weeks after injury) to chronic (> 6 months after injury). Healthy people can also join.

Main reasons for not taking part

Any reason you cannot have an MRI scan
Pregnancy
Fear of closed spaces (claustrophobia)
BMI > 40
Other nerve problems not caused by the spinal cord injury (for healthy people: any nerve illness)

The registry criteria, word for word

Show all 17 criteriaShow less

Who can take part

Age 18-75
Traumatic or non-traumatic spinal cord injury (para- and tetraplegia)
Acute (<4 weeks post SCI) to chronic SCI (> 6 months post SCI)
Signed informed consent
Age 18-75
Signed Informed consent

Who cannot take part

Neurological impairment of body function impairments not induced by spinal cord injury
Neurological illness
Impairment of body function induced by a spinal cord injury
Contraindications to magnetic resonance imaging
BMI > 40
Pregnancy
Claustrophobia
Contraindications to magnetic resonance imaging
Pregnancy
Claustrophobia
BMI > 40

Check if you might fit

Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.

Are you between 18 and 75 years old?

This trial has no sites in United States.

It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.

About the trial

What the trial wants to find out

The objective of this study is to better understand the structural and functional changes that the central nervous system (CNS) undergoes following spinal cord injury and how these changes relate to clinical measures. Both macroscopic and microscopic changes of the brain and the spinal cord will be examined in SCI patients and compared to healthy controls. In terms of structural plasticity, we aim to identify MR biomarkers that allow predicting the course of the patient's neurological status and accurately describe the course of the disease and the recovery. Importantly, we aim to investigate which factors scale the patients' symptoms. In terms of functional plasticity, we will combine fMRI with behavioural testing to understand which clinical and behavioural determinants drive functional hand representations in the primary somatosensory and motor cortices to be maintained and which determinants drive reorganisation of functional representations following sensory input loss. We will further investigate the contribution of brainstem reorganisation to plasticity observed at the cortical level and, by doing so, aim to better understand the mechanistic underpinnings of functional reorganisation.