A Comparison between Therapeutic Effect of Granulocyte Colony-stimulating Factor and Methylprednisolone in Treatment of Patients with Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the worst kinds of traumatic injuries with remarkable social and economic effects on communities.
Methods & Materials/Patients: In this prospective randomized clinical trial, 122 patients with traumatic spinal cord injury were admitted to Poursina hospital within 48 h of injury to compare G-CSF and high-dose methylprednisolone as neuroprotective therapy.
In this study, 122 patients were studied out of which 62 patients were included in the granulociote colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) group with a mean age of 40.4, and 60 patients in the methylprednisolone group with an average age of 40.10 years. 55 patients (45%) out of 122 patients were completely paralyzed (Grade AIS: A) and 67 (55%) were with incomplete spinal injury (Grade AIS: B, C, D). The average ASIA sensory scores in the two groups were similarly compared in the same time intervals, and p values were 0.7, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1, respectively . They were not statistically significant.
According to the results, the G-CSF was shown to be beneficial in average ASIA motor and sensory scores in the two groups of male patients at six months of onset of G-CSF treatment (p value=0.04) and average ASIA motor scores improvement in the falls subgroup patients also differed significantly within six months of onset of G-CSF treatment (p value=0.03). A multicentre prospective randomized clinical trial to compare the placebo effect with G-CSF protocol's treatment, and also assessment of the cost benefits of the common medical treatment versus G-CSF are n eeded.