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Lin et al. Plast Aesthet Res 2024;11:8 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-9264.2023.57 Page 9 of 12

well as patient and caretaker perceptions of those changes before and after NT surgery. We must more
comprehensively capture outcomes across treatment strategies to allow for better comparison to non-
surgical rehabilitation, tendon transfer surgery, and other as yet unimagined curative treatment strategies.

CONCLUSION
The use of NT surgery to restore UE function in SCI is rapidly expanding and numerous reports in the
literature show gains across outcomes measures. However, the heterogeneity across studies is quite
remarkable. There is also an absence of standardized assessments that measure dexterity, precision,
coordination, and natural motion. Future work should focus on standardizing outcomes measures and
developing and incorporating kinematic analysis to more comprehensively capture the effect of these newer,
relatively rare surgeries in unique populations such as those living with cervical SCI.

DECLARATIONS
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge Angela Hardi, MLIS, for designing the search strategy for this rapid review.

Authors’ contributions
Made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study and performed data analysis and
interpretation: Lin J, Fox I

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
Dr. Fox receives grant funding as the PI for “Expanding Knowledge and Information Delivery Around
Improving Upper Extremity Function After Cervical Spinal Cord Injury” Department of Defense office of
the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Fiscal Year 2021 Spinal Cord Injury
Research Program (SCIRP) Expansion Award - Early-Career Partnering PI Option. W81XWH-22-1-0909.
2022-2025. This current work is related to, but not supported by, this grant.
The contents of this comment do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the
United States Government.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2024.

REFERENCES
1. Ackery A, Tator C, Krassioukov A. A global perspective on spinal cord injury epidemiology. J Neurotrauma 2004;21:1355-70. DOI
PubMed
2. Jain NB, Ayers GD, Peterson EN, et al. Traumatic spinal cord injury in the United States, 1993-2012. JAMA 2015;313:2236-43. DOI