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

Uses special MRI to study nerve activity in adults with spinal cord injury.

Key facts

Who runs it
University of Zurich
Where
Zurich, SwitzerlandSee the site
Trial code
Registry title
Functional and Structural Changes in the Central Nervous System Following Spinal Cord Injury
Status
Recruiting
People taking part
225 people, planned
Started
1 Jan 2023
Expected to end
31 Aug 2027
Type of study
Observational, 6 groups
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, spinal cord damage from neck spine wear (DCM), or nerve-related bladder problems. Healthy volunteers can also join as a comparison group. The study uses MRI scans of the spinal cord.

Age
Over 18 years
Sex
All sexes
Disease stage
Chronic traumatic spinal cord injury (more than 12 months after injury), or degenerative spondylotic myelopathy (DCM). Or acute traumatic spinal cord injury (less than 2 months after injury), or nerve-related lower urinary tract problems (NLUTD).
Earlier treatment
People with NLUTD must be getting routine tibial nerve stimulation (TNS) as part of their rehabilitation at Balgrist University Hospital.

Main reasons for not taking part

  • Cannot have MRI, for example a pacemaker, stimulator or metal in or on the body
  • Past psychiatric or neurological disease not caused by the spinal cord injury, such as epilepsy
  • Past skull opening or head injury
  • Pregnant, breastfeeding or planning pregnancy during the study
  • Body mass index (BMI) over 35, or drug or alcohol abuse

The registry criteria, word for word

Show all 18 criteriaShow less

Who can take part

  • Age > 18 years
  • Informed consent
  • Willing to take part and follow requirements of the protocol; Patients additionally need to fulfil the following study-specific inclusion criteria:; Cross-sectional study:
  • Chronic traumatic SCI (> 12 months after injury) or
  • Diagnosed degenerative spondylotic myelopathy (DCM); Longitudinal study:
  • Acute traumatic SCI (< 2 months after injury) or
  • Patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD) who undergo routine tibial nerve stimulation (TNS) treatment as part of their rehabilitation (but independently of this study) at Balgrist University Hospital

Who cannot take part

  • Known or suspected non-adherence, drug or alcohol abuse
  • History of psychiatric or neurological disease, apart from those induced by SCI (e.g.epilepsy)
  • History of skull opening or head trauma
  • Inability to follow the procedures of the study, e.g. due to language problems, psychological disorders, dementia, etc
  • Age < 18 years
  • Contraindications for MRI (presence of pacemaker or other type of stimulator in the body, presence of metallic foreign body in or on the body, etc.); we will comply with the imaging center's (SCMI) guidelines and in case of doubt we will exclude the participant from the study
  • No informed consent
  • Women who are pregnant (when uncertain, participants will undergo urine testing) or breastfeeding
  • Intention to become pregnant during the course of the study
  • Body mass index (BMI) > 35
  • Individuals especially in need of protection (according to Research with Human Subjects published by the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences)

Where in Switzerland

  • Balgrist University HospitalZurich, SwitzerlandContact: Gergely David, Dr.Taking people

About the trial

What the trial wants to find out

Building on recent improvements, state-of-the-art functional MRI will be applied as an advanced diagnostic tool for the lumbosacral cord in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients to characterize the remaining neuronal activity of the motor and sensory neurons. Alterations in the activity pattern will reveal the effect upon task-related spinal cord activity of the lower motor neurons and sensory neurons undergoing trauma-induced neurodegeneration, at a spatial specificity that has not been possible so far. Results of this study will be of crucial importance because SCI patients can only profit from regeneration-inducing therapies if spinal neuronal function is preserved below the level of lesion.

The 6 groups in the trial

  • Cross-sectional study: healthy controls
  • Cross-sectional study: chronic traumatic SCI patients
  • Cross-sectional study: non-traumatic SCI patients with degenerative spondylotic myelopathy
  • Longitudinal study: healthy controls
  • Longitudinal study: acute traumatic SCI patients (< 2 months after SCI)
  • Longitudinal study: patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction

Questions to ask the study team

  1. How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
  2. Are travel costs paid?
  3. Can I keep my own doctor?
  4. What happens if I want to stop?

Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations

Print a page for my doctor

Data and sources

Registry record
Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Official title
Functional and Structural Changes in the Central Nervous System Following Spinal Cord Injury
Plain-language title
Brain and spinal cord changes after spinal cord injury studied with advanced MRIGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 14 November 2026.
Record updated
15 December 2025