within the cord, and whether the cord was penetrated, among other considerations. At its most basic though, non-transective traumatic spinal cord injury is in large part a disorder of post-injury tissue edema occurring within a closed space – the spinal canal – with resultant compression of surface veins that drain the spinal cord, a resulting feed-forward acceleration of edema and hence ever worsening blood flow, and ultimately infarction of spinal cord tissue. The regional severity of infarct can vary both segmentally and longitudinally, and typically includes both central gray matter as well as the ascending and descending white matter tracts. Axonal injury is paramount, and rarely are the lesions of SCI limited to demyelination.
