Publications
A complete list of Dr. Samejima’s publications can be found at this link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/soshi.samejima.1/bibliography/public/
Highlights from recent publications include:
Samejima S, Malik RN, Ge J, Rempel L, Cao K, Desai S, Shackleton C, Kyani A, Sarikhani P, D’Amico JM, Krassioukov AV. Cardiovascular safety of transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation in cervical spinal cord injury., Neurotherapeutics 2025 Mar; 22(2):e00528
Cardiovascular safety of transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation in cervical spinal cord injury
This study evaluated whether cervical transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) in conjunction with rehabilitation on upper extremity function alters blood pressure regulation in individuals with cervical spinal cord injury. A lack of adverse effects on blood pressure and heart rate during the intervention, together with the previously reported clinically meaningful improvements in upper extremity strength and function strongly supports the utility of tSCS in this patient population.
Hodgkiss DD, Williams AMM, Shackleton CS, Samejima S, Balthazaar SJT, Lam T, Krassioukov AV, Nightingale TE. Ergogenic effects of spinal cord stimulation on exercise performance following spinal cord injury., Front Neurosci 2024 ; 181435716
Ergogenic effects of spinal cord stimulation
Many people with motor-complete cervical or upper thoracic spinal cord injuries exhibit cardiovascular dysfunction that is hypothesized to lower peak heart rate, lower brachial blood pressure, and stroke volume during exercise. Collaborators on this study tested the effects of sham vs active epidural and transcutaneous stimulation during upper body exercise to improve exercise performance. The results showed that both epidural and transcutaneous stimulation were associated with increased time to exhaustion, showed a greater change in systolic blood pressure at rest, increased peak oxygen pulse, and reported lower ratings of perceived exertion. This was the first study to show that transcutaneous stimulation can improve exercise performance and demonstrate comparable improvement to invasive epidural stimulation.
Miller T, Hosseinzadeh A, Thordarson T, Kalimullina T, Samejima S, Shackleton C, Malik R, Calderón-Juárez M, Sachdeva R, Krassioukov A. Web-Based Information on Spinal Cord Stimulation: Qualitative Assessment of Publicly Accessible Online Resources., JMIR Public Health Surveill 2024 Feb; 10e50031
Web-Based Information on Spinal Cord Stimulation: Qualitative Assessment of Publicly Accessible Online Resources
As studies are being published demonstrating the potential efficacy of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in improving functional recovery post spinal cord injury, there is a growing demand for information surrounding SCS by patients and their caregivers. This qualitative assessment evaluated readily available web-based information about SCS based on the quality of information, readability, website characteristics, and website information. Findings indicated that available information mainly focused on surgically implanted stimulation with limited information about authorship and dates of publication. For-profit sites were encountered more frequently than non-profit and scientific sites towards the top of search algorithms. Evidence indicates that web-based information surrounding spinal cord stimulation is not optimized to show users most accurate and up-to-date information.
Calderón-Juárez M, Samejima S, Rempel L, Sachdeva R, Krassioukov A. Autonomic dysreflexia in urological practice: pathophysiology, prevention and treatment considerations., World J Urol 2024 Feb; 42(1):80
Autonomic dysreflexia in urological practice: pathophysiology, prevention and treatment considerations
Autonomic dysreflexia (AD), characterized by significant elevation in systolic blood pressure, results from sympathetic activation of the autonomic system. AD is common in people with spinal cord injury, often in response distension of the bladder such as during urodynamics (UDS). This literature review summarizes the pathophysiology of AD, as well as guidelines for the prevention and treatment.
Malik RN, Samejima S, Shackleton C, Miller T, Pedrocchi ALG, Rabchevsky AG, Moritz CT, Darrow D, Field-Fote EC, Guanziroli E, Ambrosini E, Molteni F, Gad P, Mushahwar VK, Sachdeva R, Krassioukov AV. REPORT-SCS: minimum reporting standards for spinal cord stimulation studies in spinal cord injury., J Neural Eng 2024 Feb; 21(1):
REPORT-SCS: minimum reporting standards for spinal cord stimulation studies in spinal cord injury
Reporting standards across research studies promote transparency, study replication, standardization of terminology, and the synthesis of findings across studies. An expert panel voted on 29 guidelines aimed at standardizing reporting for SCS parameters categorized into three categories: SCS hardware, SCS configuration and current parameters, and SCS intervention. The panel agreed upon 26 of the 29 proposed reporting guidelines which were organized into a comprehensive checklist (figure 4).
Calderón-Juárez M, Miller T, Samejima S, Shackleton C, Malik RN, Sachdeva R, Dorey TW, Krassioukov AV. Heart Rate Variability-Based Prediction of Autonomic Dysreflexia After Spinal Cord Injury., J Neurotrauma 2024 May; 41(9-10):1172-1180
Heart Rate Variability-Based Prediction of Autonomic Dysreflexia After Spinal Cord Injury
Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) is a common complication of spinal cord injury characterized by a sudden increase in blood pressure in response to a stimulus. The aim of this study was to assess heart rate variability (HRV) during urodynamic assessments (UDS) predict the onset of AD. Researchers measured ultra-short-term (UST) HRV from the start of UDS to the end to find early indicators of AD. The results indicated that a minimum value of the Standard Deviation of Normal-to-Normal interbeat intervals (SDNN) occurred around 240 seconds before the maximum systolic blood pressure. This suggests that SDNN can serve as an early indicator of AD, pointing to the utility of identifying changes in HRV to predict the onset of AD in people living with spinal cord injury.