Breakthrough surgery reverses paralysis

Breakthrough surgery reverses paralysis

London:



Belgian Firefighter Who Suffered Spine Damage Can Now Not Only Walk But Also Drive

In a medical breakthrough, a man who was paralysed from the waist down due to a fractured spine has been able to get up from his wheelchair and walk, offering hope to millions disabled by spinal cord injuries.

A joint team of British and Polish doctors have for the first time ever reversed a complete spinal paralysis by using nerve-supporting cells from the nose of Darek Fidyka, a Bulgarian firefighter who was injured four years ago and has been in a wheelchair since, to create a pathway along which the broken tissue was able to regrow.

Fidyka was left paralysed during a knife attack but is now feeling the sensation and muscle control to his legs restore. The 38-year-old can now not only walk with a frame but also drive a car.

The treatment has also helped recover Fidyka's bladder and bowel sensation and sexual function.Doctors involved in this breakthrough are now trying to raise £10 million to fund surgery in Poland for 10 similar patients so that the technique can be refined. The surgery was performed by a Polish team led by Dr Pawel Tabakow from Wroclaw Medical University while the discovery of the technique was made by Professor Geoffrey Raisman from the University College London's institute of neurology. The path-breaking surgery involved transplanting olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) from the nose to the spinal cord.

Once relocated to the spinal cord, they enabled the ends of severed nerve fibres to grow back and join together. “The patient is now able to move around the hips and on the left side, he's experienced considerable recovery of the leg muscles. He can get around with a walker and he's been able to resume much of his original life, including driving a car. He's not dancing, but he's absolutely delighted,“ said Raisman.

Fidyka said walking again was an incredible feeling. He added “When you can't feel almost half your body , you are helpless.But when it starts coming back, it's like you are born again“.

3D printer used to save man's foot

Melbourne: In a first, doctors in Australia have used a 3D printer to help build a 71-year-old man a new heel bone and save him from losing his leg to cancer.

Doctors used scans of Len Chandler's left heel bone to create a 3D image of his right one. They then used the 3D version to help construct an exact replica of the bone, the calcaneus, where a tumour had taken over, the Herald Sun reported.

Patients with advanced cancer in the calcaneus often lose the leg below the knee as it is too difficult to replace the highly complex bone. Chandler can already carry more than half his body weight following the groundbreaking surgery in July. PTI