Longitudinal extension of oedema in experimental spinal cord injury—Evidence for two types of post-traumatic oedema

Abstract
As in brain, another, obviously hydrostatic, type of oedema develops in the acutely injured spinal cord of the rabbit in addition to vasogenic oedema. The authors arrived at this finding by means of fluorescent tracer studies histological examinations, and measurements of tissue water, sodium and potassium. Longitudinal spread of vasogenic oedema remained limited to the zone of the epicentre and its surroundings. Hyperhydration, which appears gradually in the remote segments and is associated with increased sodium content, has the characteristics of plasma-ultrafiltrate.