Effect of vasodilators and myelotomy on recovery after acute spinal cord injury in rats.

The effect of papaverine, nitroprusside, or myelotomy on the recovery of spinal cord function was studied in rats after acute cord-compression injury. Spinal cord recovery was measured by a quantitative method of clinical assessment previously developed in our laboratory. Neither papaverine nor nitroprusside improved recovery of cord function. Dorsal midline myelotomy extending anteriorly as far as the central canal did not produce significant improvement (p greater than 0.05). However, when the myelotomy extended completely through the cord in the anteroposterior plane significant improvement (p less than 0.01) was obtained.