Jefferson's Spinal Cord Injury Center Awarded Five-Year Grant Worth More Than $2 Million

The Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center of the Delaware Valley (RSCICDV) at Thomas Jefferson University, a cooperative program of research and patient care between Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, has received renewal of a five-year grant worth approximately $2 million from the Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The grant renewal is a significant recognition of the continuing quality of Jefferson's Spinal Cord Injury Center as a model system of care, having been supported by this funding since its establishment in 1978.

Grant recognizes accomplishments and fosters improved standards

"The grant award recognizes the RSCICDV for what it has been able to accomplish and allows us to pursue improved standards of care for the spinal cord injured," commented John F. Ditunno, MD, chairman of rehabilitation medicine at Jefferson. Dr. Ditunno recently served as chairman and editor of the "International Standards for Neurological and Functional Classification of Spinal Cord Injury," which provides a universal language for classifying persons with spinal cord injury that has been accepted by rehabilitation practitioners throughout the world.

Programs supported through the grant encompass collaborative research among 18 centers and a model system of care and education at the RSCICDV, which managed more than 2,000 persons with spinal cord injury in its first 16 years. Many departments within Jefferson, including rehabilitation, orthopaedics, neurosurgery, radiology, urology, medicine, nursing and others contribute their expertise to the pursuit of improved methods of recovery for those with spinal cord injury.

Collaborative research efforts

Some of the collaborative research being conducted under the auspices of the RSCICDV includes: "Measuring Functional Outcomes After Rehabilitation"; "Parenting by Mothers with SCI"; "Establishing a National Network of Advocacy Groups for Individuals with SCI" and "Quality of Life after SCI."

The departments of radiology and pathology at Jefferson additionally are involved in a unique research project that has created (Continued on page 6) aa spinal cord bank. In acute patient deaths that include a spinal cord injury, and where family permission is granted, the department collects and examines the cords with magnetic resonance imaging to help determine the extent of injury and correlates this with pathological findings. So far, the department has collected nearly ten spinal cords and expects that its research will contribute to a better understanding of the physiology of a spinal cord injury, which will, in turn, help researchers determine better approaches to transplantation and rehabilitation.

The Center also is actively involved in community reintegration for its patients and in raising community awareness of spinal cord injuries. The grant contributes to educational programs like preventive training for Emergency Medical Services (EMS), back-to-work and productive living training, and peer counseling for patients and families. Staff and former patients of the RSCICDV also interact with schools and community groups through lecture presentations for "Think First" in which Bruce Northrup, MD, from the department of neurosurgery serves as director.

"These types of outcome studies and active clinical research, in addition to appropriate patient care, are able to continue with the support of this grant," said Dr. Ditunno.