Electrical spinal implants offer hope for paralyzed

Four men who had each been paralyzed from the chest down for more than two years and been told their case was hopeless regained the ability to voluntarily move their legs and feet - though not to walk - after an electrical device was implanted in their spines.

The success, in a few patients, offers hope that a new treatment can help many of the 6 million paralyzed Americans, including the 1.3 million with spinal-cord injuries. Even those deemed so hopeless they are not offered rehabilitation might benefit, scientists say.

The results also cast doubt on a key tenet of care: that it requires damaged neurons to regrow or be replaced with stem cells. Both have proven elusive.

"People with spinal-cord injury of the type these men had no longer need to think they have a lifelong sentence of paralysis," said Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, which partly funded the study. "They can achieve some level of voluntary function," which he called "a milestone."

The partial recoveries suggest that doctors may be mistakenly giving up on millions of paralyzed people. That's because physical therapy can mimic aspects of the device's electrical stimulation, said lead author Susan Harkema of the University of Louisville.

"Today, patients are not given rehab because they are not considered 'good investments,' Harkema said. "We should rethink what they're offered, because rehabilitation can drive recovery for many more than are receiving it."

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Electrical spinal implants offer hope for paralyzed