In summary, the drainage of CSF has been shown in human clinical studies to be neuroprotective in the setting of ischemic injury to the spinal cord, both with respect to prevention and treatment. Given that ischemia is also a well recognized contributor to the secondary injury cascade following traumatic spinal cord injury, there is a cogent rationale for the evaluation of CSF drainage in this setting, acknowledging the desperate need for the development of effective treatments for such patients. To our knowledge, there have been no previously reported evaluations of CSF drainage in human patients who have suffered an acute traumatic spinal cord injury.