tSCI Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound Study

Patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) often suffer from spinal cord swelling inside the thecal sac, which contains the spinal cord and surrounding fluid, leading to increased pressure on the spinal cord tissue and decreased spinal cord blood flow at the site of injury. The combination of increased pressure and decreased blood flow causes vascular hypo-perfusion of the spinal cord and exacerbates the severity of the injury. This is also referred to as secondary injury. Thus, knowledge of spinal cord hypo-perfusion would allow the treating physician to optimize the hemodynamic condition of patients with acute spinal cord injury and potentially improve functional outcomes. The investigators plan to use contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to determine the decrease of blood flow in the spinal cord at the site of injury, during the routine surgery that these patients require to decompress and stabilize their injured spine. This may help the investigators to determine the efficacy of certain treatments in improving blood flow and patients suffering from tSCI.