An interview based approach to the anorectal portion of the International Standards of Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury Exam (I-A-ISNCSCI): a pilot study

Study design: Prospective, single-blinded study. Objective: To design and evaluate the use of an interview based version of the anorectal portion of the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) exam in the acute inpatient rehabilitation (AIR) setting. Setting: AIR unit. Methods: Participants admitted to AIR underwent standard ISNCSCI exams (S-ISNCSCI) as part of routine inpatient care within 3 days of being administered an interview version of the anorectal portion of the ISNCSCI (I-A-ISNCSCI). Agreement between the anorectal portion of the S-ISNCSCI (S-A-ISNCSCI) and the I-A-ISNCSCI was evaluated. Results: Forty of forty-five enrolled participants completed the assessments. Agreement between the I-A-ISNCSCI and S-A-ISNCSCI was substantial for anorectal sensation to light touch (k = 0.71, 95% CI 0.52–0.90, N = 36), pin prick (k = 0.68, 95% CI 0.48–0.87, N = 38), deep anal pressure (k = 0.77, 95% CI 0.53–1.00, N = 37), and completeness of injury based on combined sacral sensory criteria (k = 0.72, 95% CI 0.47–0.97, N = 40); and fair for voluntary anal contraction (k = 0.29, 95% CI −0.01 to 0.59, N = 36). Responses of “I don’t know” were excluded from agreement analyses. Conclusions: This pilot study was a first step in developing interview based tools such as the I-A-ISNCSCI in an AIR setting providing convenient access to individuals with SCI and their direct feedback. The study design introduces potential recall bias and may not match true clinical situations such as remote follow-up of neurological changes for chronic patients. The use of interview based tools for assessing individuals with SCI remains worthy of further study.