Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2016

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed. It is the author’s final published version in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Volume 97, Issue 10, October 2016, Pages 1642-6.

The published version is available at DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2016.02.006. Copyright © Marino et al.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether pressure sensation at the S3 dermatome (a new test) could be used in place of deep anal pressure (DAP) to determine completeness of injury as part of the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury.

DESIGN: Prospective, multicenter observational study.

SETTING: U.S. Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems.

PARTICIPANTS: Persons (N=125) with acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), neurologic levels T12 and above, were serially examined at 1 month (baseline), 3, 6, and 12 months postinjury. There were 80 subjects with tetraplegia and 45 with paraplegia.

INTERVENTIONS: S3 pressure sensation at all time points, with a retest at the 1-month time point.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Test-retest reliability and agreement (κ), sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values.

RESULTS: Test-retest reliability of S3 pressure at 1 month was almost perfect (κ=.98). Agreement of S3 pressure with DAP was substantial both at 1 month (κ=.73) and for all time points combined (κ=.76). The positive predictive value of S3 pressure for DAP was 89.3% at baseline and 90.3% for all time points. No pattern in outcomes was seen in those cases where S3 pressure and DAP differed at 1 month.

CONCLUSIONS: S3 pressure sensation is reliable and has substantial agreement with DAP in persons with SCI at least 1 month postinjury. We suggest S3 pressure as an alternative test of sensory sacral sparing for supraconus SCI, at least in cases where DAP cannot be tested. Further research is needed to determine whether S3 pressure could replace DAP for classification of SCI.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

PubMed ID

26921681

Share

COinS