
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 31, 1990                   TAG: 9003310346
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BREAKTHROUGH REPORTED IN SPINAL CORD TREATMENT

Identifying the first treatment for acute spinal cord injury, federal health officials said Friday that patients who receive the drug methylprednisolone within eight hours of injury show a more dramatic recovery of motor and sensory functions than other patients.

The drug, a steroid often used to treat symptoms of shock and to prevent swelling after strokes or surgery, appears to halt deterioration of spinal cord cells and tissue, according to study results announced by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Before the study, "the whole field had been absolutely dismal with no hope of improving the fate of the patient," said Dr. Phanor L. Perot Jr., chairman of the department of surgery of the Yale University School of Medicine and one of the study researchers. "This study gives concrete proof . . . that we can stop the lethal process." - Los Angeles Times

by CNB