Three years ago, doctors reported that zapping a paralyzed man’s spinal cord with electricity allowed him to stand and move his legs. Now they have done the same with three more patients, suggesting their original success was no fluke.
Experts say it is a promising development, but warn the experimental treatment is not a cure. When the implanted device is activated, the men can wiggle their toes, lift their legs and stand briefly, but they are not able to walk and still use wheelchairs to get around.
“There is no miracle cure on the way,” said Peter Ellaway, an emeritus professor of physiology at Imperial College London, who had no role in the study. “But this could certainly give paralyzed people more independence and it could still be a life-changer for them.”
Photo: Reuters / University of Louisville
In a new study published yesterday in the British journal Brain, researchers gave an update on Rob Summers, of Portland, Oregon, the first to try the treatment, and described successful results for all three of the other men who have tried it. All had been paralyzed from below the neck or chest for at least two years from a spinal cord injury.
The study’s lead author, Claudia Angeli of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Research Center at the University of Louisville, said she believes the device’s zapping of the spinal cord helps it to receive simple commands from the brain, through circuitry that some doctors had assumed was beyond repair after severe paralysis.
Dustin Shillcox, 29, of Green River, Wyoming, was seriously injured in a car crash in 2010. Last year, he had the electrical device surgically implanted in his lower back in Kentucky. Five days later, he wiggled his toes and moved one of his feet for the first time.
“It was very exciting and emotional,” Shillcox said. “It brought me a lot of hope.”
He now practices moving his legs for about an hour a day at home in addition to therapy sessions in the lab, sometimes wearing a Superman T-shirt for inspiration. He said it has given him more confidence and he feels more comfortable going out.
“The future is very exciting for people with spinal cord injuries,” he said.
The study’s other two participants — Kent Stephenson of Mount Pleasant, Texas and Andrew Meas of Louisville, Kentucky — have had similar results.
“I’m able to [make] these voluntary movements and it really changed my life,” Stephenson said.
Ellaway said it was unrealistic to think that paralyzed people would be able to walk after such treatment, but it was feasible they might eventually be able to stand unaided.
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