Damage that continues in the hours and days following the initial trauma, extending the size of the injury. Secondary damage is caused by the reactive processes in the tissue.

Medical and scientific terms

The part of the body that lies between the thorax and the pelvis and encloses the stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, and pancreas.

Nerve pathways that go upward from the spinal cord towards the brain and carry sensory information from the body.

The largest and most common of the supporting, or glial, cells in the brain and spinal cord. Astrocytes (meaning "star cells" because of their shape) help regulate the chemical envir [..]

Dysregulation of the autonomous nervous system can result in a potentially life-threatening increase in blood pressure, sweating, and other autonomic reflexes in reaction to bowel impaction or some ot [..]

Programmed cell death, or "cell suicide"; a form of cell death in which a controlled sequence of events (or programme) leads to the elimination of cells without releasing harmful sub [..]

Long nerve cell fibres that conduct electrical impulses. Axons contact other nerve, muscle, and gland cells by synapses (cell connections, see below) and the release of neurotransmitters that influenc [..]

Bioinformatics describes the methods and software tools used for understanding biological data. It is used to collate and analyse the vast quantities of data being produced by spinal cord injury resea [..]

The transmission of an electric impulse from the cell body of the neuron to the synapse via the axon.