Cell transplant allows paralyzed man to walk again, researchers say

saltwn · #1 (**permalink**) 10-25-2014, 03:56 AM

This is only the beginning albeit a wonderful improvement for this man's former condition.

Cell transplant sees paralyzed man walk again - CNN.com

Quote:

Polish man Darek Fidyka, 38, had been left paralyzed from the chest down after a 2010 knife attack caused an 8mm gap in his spinal cord. An initial 13 months of rehabilitation followed by an additional 8-month program before the experimental treatment had not produced an improvement in his condition, researchers said.

But two years after the 2012 cell transplant he can walk with the aid of a Zimmer frame, also known as a walker.

Scientists at University College London (UCL) developed the treatment, which saw olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) from the nose transplanted to Fidyka's spinal cord. OECs are what allow the sense of smell to return when nerve cells in the nose are damaged.

Surgeons at Wroclaw University in Poland led by Dr Pawel Tabakow injected the OECs above and below Fidyka's spinal cord gap, then used nerve tissue taken from his ankle to act as a bridge for spinal nerves to grow across, UCL said.

Quote:

Three months after the surgery, Fidyka's thigh muscle began to grow and three months after that he started to walk with leg braces and the help of a physiotherapist, researchers said.

Being able to walk with a Zimmer frame or walker two years on, Fidyka said, was an incredible feeling.

"When you can't feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it's as if you were born again," he said.

Bladder sensation and some sexual function have also returned, the UCL said.

UCL's Professor Geoff Raisman discovered OECs in 1985 and headed the team whose research led to the breakthrough.

more of article here

Superman is somewhere smiling.

waltky · #2 (**permalink**) 11-18-2017, 12:15 AM

UPDATE:

Granny gonna get Uncle Ferd a new head...

World's first human head transplant a success, controversial scientist claims
17 November 2017 • The world's first human head transplant has allegedly been performed on a corpse in an 18 hour operation which successfully connected the spine, nerves and blood vessels of two people.

Quote:

The operation was carried out by a team led by Dr Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University, China, who last year successfully grafted a head onto the body of a monkey.

Italian Professor Sergio Canavero, Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, who has been working with the team, said they would 'imminently' move onto a living human who was paralysed from the neck down.

He told The Telegraph that electrical stimulation of the nerves proved the operation on the corpse had been successful, and that the two people had been completely attached.

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