Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos researchers advance spinal cord injury recovery measurement

Researchers Ángel Arévalo Martín and Daniel García Ovejero from the Neuroinflammation Laboratory at the Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos (HNP) have led two international studies improving the measurement of neurological recovery following spinal cord injuries.

The studies utilize the Integrated Neurological Change Score (INCS), a tool developed by Arévalo that combines motor and sensory changes into a single indicator. This method has proven effective in clinical trials, such as the European phase II NISCI study, which tests the NG101 antibody for axonal repair after acute cervical spinal cord injuries.

Findings published in the Journal of Neurotrauma indicate that the INCS avoids the ‘ceiling effect’—where standard scales fail to reflect improvements because a patient's score is already near the maximum. Additionally, the research identifies four distinct stages and profiles of neurological recovery, providing a more precise way to track patient evolution over time.