Spinal implant brings hope for paralytics
Imaging studies show that cell death in the spinal cord generally spreads even as patients recover.
Four months ago, Roger, a 55-year-old construction worker from
Mooresville, NC, fell out of a deer stand and was left with a damaged
spinal cord and no sensation from the middle of his chest down. Patients
with his condition typically have less than a 1-in-20 chance of
recovering any feeling in or control over the paralyzed areas. A new
kind of implant aims to change that.
At Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, Roger, who doesn't want to disclose his last name to protect his privacy, allowed doctors to perform an experimental procedure that involved cutting directly into his spinal cord to insert a sort of bridge for surviving nerve cells. Within a month, he regained feeling in his abdomen, some feeling in his legs, and some bladder control. While he's not walking, he says he's determined to get there and is getting leg braces so he can move with a walker.
Roger was the third patient to receive the implant, made by InVivo Therapeu tics in Cambridge, Mass., and the second with markedly improved bodily function. The chance of that happening was below 1%, according to InVivo CEO Mark Perrin, and it's welcome news for the 8,000 Americans who suffer spinal cord related paralysis each year.
Conventional treatment focuses on repairing a fractured spine with rods and screws, but it doesn't address the spinal cord itself, which relays electrical impulses from the brain to the body.
Imaging studies show that cell death in the spinal cord generally spreads even as patients recover. InVivo's device, called the neuro-spinal scaffold, is a tiny cylindrical implant made of biodegradable plastic fibers. It sup ports nerve cells like a trellis, directing their growth where needed.
At Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, Roger, who doesn't want to disclose his last name to protect his privacy, allowed doctors to perform an experimental procedure that involved cutting directly into his spinal cord to insert a sort of bridge for surviving nerve cells. Within a month, he regained feeling in his abdomen, some feeling in his legs, and some bladder control. While he's not walking, he says he's determined to get there and is getting leg braces so he can move with a walker.
Roger was the third patient to receive the implant, made by InVivo Therapeu tics in Cambridge, Mass., and the second with markedly improved bodily function. The chance of that happening was below 1%, according to InVivo CEO Mark Perrin, and it's welcome news for the 8,000 Americans who suffer spinal cord related paralysis each year.
Conventional treatment focuses on repairing a fractured spine with rods and screws, but it doesn't address the spinal cord itself, which relays electrical impulses from the brain to the body.
Imaging studies show that cell death in the spinal cord generally spreads even as patients recover. InVivo's device, called the neuro-spinal scaffold, is a tiny cylindrical implant made of biodegradable plastic fibers. It sup ports nerve cells like a trellis, directing their growth where needed.
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