Scoring Acute Spinal Cord Injury: A Study of the Utility and Limitations of Five Different Grading Systems

Motor and Sensory Assessment of Patients in Clinical Trials for Pharmacological Therapy of Acute Spinal Cord Injury: Psychometric Properties of the ASIA Standards

“…Their results indicated that the Frankel scale was "moderately" correlated with the Yale Scale (r ϭ 0.84; p value was not reported) and Neuro-Trauma Motor Index (r ϭ 0.76; p value was not reported), whereas the Frankel scale showed a weak correlation with MBI (r ϭ 0.6; p value was not reported) and FIM (r ϭ 0.57; p value was not reported) (Wells and Nicosia, 1995). Analyzing data from 52 tetraplegic and 26 paraplegic patients who were initially examined within the first 72 h after SCI, Lazar et al reported that the 1982 ASIA motor scores on admission were significantly correlated the initial (p Ͻ 0.001; r value was not reported) and follow-up MBI results (p Ͻ 0.001; r value was not reported) (Mahoney and Barthel, 1965;ASIA, 1982;Lazar et al, 1989).…”

“…Wells et al tested the Frankel scale for correlation with two motor and sensory function measures (Neuro-Trauma Motor Index and Yale Scale) and two functional assessment instruments (MBI and FIM) among 35 patients with complete (n ϭ 16) or incomplete SCI at cervical (n ϭ 25), thoracic (n ϭ 7), or lumbar levels (Mahoney and Barthel, 1965;Lucas and Ducker, 1979;Chehrazi et al, 1981;ASIA, 1982ASIA, , 1984ASIA, , 1990ASIA, , 1993Wells and Nicosia, 1995). Their results indicated that the Frankel scale was "moderately" correlated with the Yale Scale (r ϭ 0.84; p value was not reported) and Neuro-Trauma Motor Index (r ϭ 0.76; p value was not reported), whereas the Frankel scale showed a weak correlation with MBI (r ϭ 0.6; p value was not reported) and FIM (r ϭ 0.57; p value was not reported) (Wells and Nicosia, 1995).…”

A Cross-sectional Study on the Symptom Burden of Patients With Spinal Tumor: Validation of the Chinese Version of the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory—Spine Tumor Module

“…Several physician-rated instruments, such as the Frankel scale and the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) scale, have been used to assess neurologic function in patients with spine tumors. However, they suffer from concerns over sensitivity to severity of spinal cord dysfunction, 21 lack of response to treatment, 21 and low interobserver reliability. 22 Furthermore, multiple previous studies 23e25 suggested that disease-specific patient-reported outcome instruments for symptom assessment were more accurate than physician scales, better facilitate patient-physician communication, and allowed for early detection of emerging or progressing symptoms.…”

Clinical Assessment Following Acute Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

“…The contemporary assessment of SCI patients incorporates both neurological examination scales and functional outcome/assessment scales to most accurately describe individual patients. 10,11,35 Finally, the clinical assessment of patients with acute SCI should include an assessment of pain severity, physical functioning, and emotional functioning experienced by that patient. Several pain classification systems have been developed, and 13 pain intensity instruments have been designed and utilized to describe pain among SCI patients.…”