British Doctors
have managed to stimulate the regeneration of spinal cord neurons to enable
sensation in paralyzed Darek Fidyk’s lower body. This new technique may lead
millions of paralyzed people around the world on a new road for treatment and
improvement. A revolutionary implant of regenerative cells has knitted back
together the spinal cord of wheelchair-bound firefighter, Fidyk, who was paralyzed
from the chest down in a knife attack, restoring sensation and muscle control
to his legs. What is the secret?
Well, the unique technique was developed
by researchers at University College London and put into practice by surgeons
in the Polish city of Wroclaw. It uses specialist human cells which repair
damage to nasal nerves to enable spinal nerve fibres to re-grow and bridge a
severed cord. Nasal nerves? Yes, nerve cells from the nose were
surgically implanted in Darek’s spinal cord to help with regrowth. These cells
are known as olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), which were inserted into an
8mm gap in Fidyk’s spinal cord. He had a less than one percent chance of
even the slightest recovery. Dr Pawel Tabakow developed the technique to
implant cultured OECs harvested from a patient’s own olfactory bulb - and
another type of nasal cell known as a fibroblast - on the stumps of a severed
spinal cord. A scaffolding of nerve tissue was taken from the ankle to join the
two ends of the cord to encourage bridging by the cells.
However, the OEC
implants eventually began to regenerate the “stumps” on the spinal cord, which
returned feeling to Fidka’s legs. Professor Geoffrey Raisman, the head of UCL’s
Institute of Neurology who conducted the groundbreaking research into OECs,
told The Independent: “I believe this is the first time that a patient has been
able to regenerate severed long spinal nerve fibres across an injury and resume
movement and feeling. I believe we have now opened the door to a treatment of
spinal cord injury which will get patients out of wheelchairs. Our goal is to
develop this first procedure to a point where it can be rolled out as a
worldwide general approach.”
He added: “We believe that this procedure is the breakthrough which, as it is further developed, will result in a historic change in the currently hopeless outlook for people disabled by spinal cord injury.” Within 19 months of the operation, Darek was able to discern the direction of movement in his feet up to 85% accuracy. In a documentary, he stated “When it starts coming back, you feel as if you start living your life again, as if you are born again.”
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