Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cognitive Deficits in the Brain of Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury (SCI_Cog)

In the case of spinal cord injury, rehabilitation is particularly focused on motor skills. Non-motor impairments such as thinking difficulties did not receive a lot of attention to date.

In this research project, the investigators want to find out how thinking difficulties become noticeable in the brain with spinal cord injury.

Participation procedure: Participants who take part will be asked to come to an examination once. The duration of the examination is between 2 and 2.5 hours (including around 55 minutes in the magnetic resonance imaging scanner, including preparation and follow-up).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Spinal Cord Injury

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 54

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Canton of Lucerne
    • Nottwil, Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, 6207
      • Swiss Paraplegic Research

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Individuals with SCI and healthy controls will be recruited for the study considering age-matching.

Description

Inclusion criteria (with and without spinal cord injury):

• Male or Female
• Age between 18 and 60
• German native speaker
• Normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity

Additional inclusion criteria (spinal cord injury only):

• A diagnosis of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI)
• Time since injury 12 months or longer
• American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade A, B, C and D

Exclusion criteria (with and without spinal cord injury):

• Contraindication for magnetic resonance imaging examinations (e.g., cardiac pacemaker etc.)
• Pregnancy
• Diagnosis of other psychiatric or neurological disorders (including tumor in the central nervous system)
• Alcohol and/or drug abuse
• Confirmed diagnosis of traumatic brain injury
• Insufficient hand function (not able to hold a pen due to the restricted motor abilities)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
spinal cord injury; Individuals living with a spinal cord injury
non spinal cord injury; able-bodied individuals

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Brain activity	Brain activity defined as changes in oxygen levels in the blood during the execution of cognitive tasks on cognitive inhibition and verbal fluency (executive functions), and at rest	Baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Behavioral performance	Accuracy on cognitive inhibition task (in percentage)	Baseline
Behavioral performance	Reaction time (in milliseconds) on cognitive inhibition task	Baseline
Behavioral performance	Number of errors on cognitive inhibition task	Baseline
Behavioral performance	Number of correct words on verbal fluency task	Baseline
Behavioral performance	Number of mistakes on verbal fluency task	Baseline
Brain morphometry	Volume of brain structures in cubic millimetres	Baseline
Level of life satisfaction	Satisfaction with Life Scale (validated questionnaire assessing life satisfaction)	Baseline
Level of anxiety	State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (validated questionnaire assessing anxiety)	Baseline
Level of pain	Validated questionnaire assessing pain severity	Baseline
Quality of sleep	Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (validated questionnaire assessing sleep quality)	Baseline
Level of attention and awareness	Mindful Attention and Awareness scale (validated questionnaire assessing level of attention and awareness)	Baseline
Motor symptom severity	Motor symptoms severity (from level A to E) based on the International Standards for Neurological Classification of spinal cord injury (ISNCSCI)	Baseline
Demographics	Demographic information such as age, sex and education level, as well as time since injury	Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 18, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): November 18, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 26, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 7, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): March 13, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 20, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 17, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: neuroimaging; cognition; spinal cord injury; executive functions
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Wounds and Injuries; Trauma, Nervous System; Spinal Cord Diseases; Spinal Cord Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2023-18

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: The investigators plan to save anonymised data into public repositories, but given the size of imaging data, they are still undecided.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No