Review: Steroid Use in Patients With Acute Spinal Cord Injury and Guideline Update

Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition that causes enormous damage to a patient’s physical, mental, and economic situation and requires a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. Research on SCI has been performed for a long time, and the management of SCI has developed dramatically in recent decades as a mechanism of injury and the pathophysiology of SCI have been revealed from the primitive stage in the past. In the treatment of patients with acute SCI, there is a lot of debate regarding surgical treatment strategies and pharmacological management, such as steroid use. In particular, the efficacy of steroid use, such as methylprednisolone sodium succinate, has been increasing and decreasing and is still intensely debated. The practice guidelines reported so far for this are also at the “suggest” stage with weak recommendations. Therefore, this review aims to summarize the effects of steroid use on SCI. This review provides an overview of current practical guidelines and clinical studies on steroid use in patients with SCI.