Successful treatment by spinal cord stimulation for gait disturbance in a patient with diffuse axonal injury

The authors present a case of diffuse axonal injury (DAI) treated by cervical spinal cord stimulation (C-SCS) for gait disturbance. The patient had right hemiparesis of moderate degree, mild ataxia, ideational apraxia and gait disturbance, when admitted to our hospital for rehabilitation. He could not walk by himself, nevertheless neurorehabilitation was done for four months. Xenon-CT was examined by C-SCS loading and the changes of regional cerebral blood flow were significantly increased in both hemispheres, especially in the thalamus. C-SCS was performed continuously on condition of 25 Hz, 200 microsec and 0.5 V, daily for a month. Neurological deficits, especially gait disturbance due to ideational apraxia, were gradually improved after initiation of C-SCS, and the patient could walk by himself. We speculate that C-SCS played a role in triggering improvement of gait disturbance at the chronic stage in our case, and SCS may be helpful for neurorehabilitation of focal symptoms after DAI.