Megadose corticosteroid therapy following experimental traumatic spinal injury.

Corticosteroids are frequently used in the treatment of spinal trauma, although neither experimental nor clinical evidence to support their use is persuasive. Recently there have been claims that extremely high doses ("megadoses") of corticosteroids (equivalent to 15 to 30 mg/kg of methylprednisolone) improve neurological recovery compared to results with traditional steroid doses. The authors have compared the effect of megadose dexamethasone and methylprednisolone therapy to that of saline treatment following traumatic cervical spinal injury in the cat. During 6 weeks postinjury, neurological recovery did not differ significantly in corticosteroid-treated and saline-treated animals. Moreover, histopathological changes in the spinal cord were similar in methylprednisolone- and saline-treated cats. Corticosteroid-treated animals had a higher mortality rate than did control animals, with the predominant cause of death being neurogenic pulmonary edema. It is concluded that megadose corticosteroid treatment does not improve neurological recovery in this experimental model of spinal injury, and is associated with increased mortality.