Category Archives: Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

BALTIMORE President Donald Trump on Friday encouraged police officers to be rough with suspects they are placing in custody, an apparent joke Baltimore officials criticized as inappropriate in light of police reform efforts here and elsewhere. Trump was speaking to officers in Suffolk County, New York, to highlight his administrations efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and the street gang known as MS-13. But he took a moment to criticize police officers who he thinks treat suspects too gingerly. When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon you just see them thrown in, rough I said, Please dont be too nice, Trump said, eliciting laughter from officers. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and youre protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, dont hit their head and theyve just killed somebody dont hit their head. I said, You can take the hand away, okay? A spokesman for Mayor Catherine Pugh characterized Trumps comments as insensitive. City officials are struggling to stunt a spike in homicides that began soon after Freddie Gray died of a spinal cord injury he suffered after being placed without a … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV)today announced that James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, United Kingdom has been added as the UKs first clinical site for The INSPIRE Study: InVivo Study of Probable Benefit of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for Safety and Neurologic Recovery in Subjects with Complete Thoracic AIS A Spinal Cord Injury. The Golden Jubilee Regional Spinal Cord Injuries Centre located at the James Cook University Hospital, a major trauma center, focuses exclusively on patients with spinal cord injuries and is one of eight specialist centers within England. I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to be joining the INSPIRE study and I look forward to helping InVivo evaluate this exciting experimental technology while bringing awareness of the study to the United Kingdom, Dr. Prasad said. Mark Perrin, InVivos CEO and Chairman, said, We are thrilled to open our first INSPIRE site in the United Kingdom and are looking forward to working with Dr. Prasad and the staff at James Cook University Hospital. The INSPIRE Study is now open for enrollment across three countries: the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. There are now 33 clinical sites participating in the clinical study: About The INSPIRE Study The INSPIRE … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV)today announced that Stanford Medicine in Stanford, CA has been added as a clinical site for The INSPIRE Study: InVivo Study of Probable Benefit of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for Safety and Neurologic Recovery in Subjects with Complete Thoracic AIS A Spinal Cord Injury. Atman Desai, MD, has been named Principal Investigator at the site. Dr. Desai is a Director of Neurosurgical Spinal Oncology and Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Stanford University Medical Center. Mark Perrin, InVivos CEO and Chairman, said, We are pleased to welcome one of the most recognized hospitals in the world to the INSPIRE Study. We look forward to working with Stanford Medicine and Dr. Desai, especially given Dr. Desais expertise in spinal cord injury treatment. There are now 34 clinical sites participating in the clinical study: For more information, please visit the companys ClinicalTrials.gov registration site: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02138110. About the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold ImplantFollowing acute spinal cord injury, surgical implantation of the biodegradable Neuro-Spinal Scaffold within the decompressed and debrided injury epicenter is intended to support appositional healing, thereby reducing post-traumatic cavity formation, sparing white matter, and allowing neural repair within and around the healed wound epicenter. The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, an … Continue reading →

By Press Gazette contributor PENSACOLA Every year, millions of people visit U.S. beaches during the summer. However, many people are unaware of the dangers capable of turning a vacation day into a medical emergency. During the summer, Sacred Heart Hospital neurosurgeon Dr. Samuel Critides and his colleagues see patients who sustain spinal cord injuries from diving headfirst into the water. People who sustain these types of injuries go to Sacred Heart Hospital for emergency surgery and receive treatment in the Level II Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center. Its the areas only hospital equipped to treat these injuries. Diving is one of the most preventable causes of spinal cord injuries, Critides says. The public is aware of the dangers of diving into a shallow pool, but many dont think twice about diving into a wave at the beach. The depth of the water on the shoreline can be deceiving. A shore break can cause waves to break directly on the wet sand, causing a rapid transition from deep to shallow water. According to the National Ocean Service, both small and high waves can be equally as unpredictable and dangerous. The power of a shore break can cause injuries to extremities and … Continue reading →

Get access to the best calls on Wall Street with StreetInsider.com's Ratings Insider Elite. Get your Free Trial here. InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV) today announced the appointment of Richard Toselli, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer, effective July 5, 2017. Dr. Toselli, a fellowship-trained spinal neurosurgeon, will assume all responsibilities related to the companys clinical and regulatory strategy. Prior to joining InVivo, Dr. Toselli served as Chief Medical Officer for Cochlear Limited. In that role, he was responsible for global clinical, regulatory, and medical affairs teams reporting to the CEO. Prior to that, Dr. Toselli served five years at Sanofi in various levels of increasing responsibility, including Vice President of Global Medical Affairs Immunology and Inflammation, Biologics Division; Vice President of Global Medical Affairs and Head of the Biosurgery Discovery Performance Unit; and Vice President of Global Medical Affairs, Biosurgery. Before his time at Sanofi, he served as Chief Medical/Technology Officer for Covidien Surgical, and earlier held various roles at DePuy Spine including Director of Medical Affairs, Worldwide Vice President of Research and Development, and Worldwide Vice President of Clinical Evidence and External Relations. He subsequently held the position of Vice President of Evidence-Based Medicine at Johnson & Johnson for … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scholar Rock, a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing drugs that selectively target growth factors in the disease microenvironment, today announced the presentation of data from its SRK-015 antibody program, in collaboration with The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, a Center of Excellence at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, that demonstrate beneficial effects in a preclinical model of spinal cord injury. The study results, presented at the 35th Annual National Neurotrauma Symposium, held July 9-12th in Snowbird, UT, revealed that the Companys proprietary antibody, which possesses a unique ability to selectively block intramuscular activation of myostatin, improved key characteristics of muscle pathology that result from severe contusion injury to the spinal cord. More specifically, the antibody decreased muscle atrophy, educed fat infiltration into muscle, and improved muscle function. SRK-015 is Scholar Rocks lead antibody drug candidate which is initially being developed for the improvement of muscle strength and function in patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). We appreciated our fruitful interaction with the leadership and scientists of the Scholar Rock team,enabling the exploration of an innovative therapeutic approach to spinal cord injury. Maintaining muscle mass both above and below the level of spinal cord … Continue reading →

Jim Abbott @JimAbbottwrites ORMOND BEACH It was roughly two years ago that Voula Koulouris started to notice unusual bumps on the arms and legs of her youngest child, Theodore. When X-rays revealed a rare bone condition, multiple hereditary exostoses, the Koulouris family soon became frustrated with the treatment options they could find with area doctors. We met with numerous doctors and it was just one door shut after another, Koulourissaid on a recent afternoon in the familys Ormond Beach home. We had started to lose hope. After roughly six months of searching, the family contacted Shriners Hospitals for Children, the network of 22 hospitals in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The hospitals, the main mission supported by members of Shriners International celebrating their annual convention this week in Daytona Beach, specialize in treatment of young patients with orthopedic issues, cleft lip and palate, burn care, spinal cord injuries and other complex conditions. I was like, Why havent I heard of this place? said Koulouris, 37, who learned about the option from a friend. The family soon visited the Shriners Hospital in Tampa, where doctors specialize in bone and joint disorders, spinal conditions, neuromuscular disorders and other complex orthopedic conditions. … Continue reading →

Normally, Jiu Jitsu is used as a self-defense method. Houston resident, Maximiliano Ulloa-York, had found Jiu Jitsu to also be an effect therapeutic method to treat his paralysis. The full story may be found onABC 13. Maximiliano already had over a decade of martial arts experience prior to his first injury in 1998 that he had suffered at work. He had survived an accidental cut to his leg with a skill saw whilst on the job and only survived because it missed a major artery. He went from having a limp to being a fully-functional athlete in a matter of months. With his latest spinal cord injury, which he had suffered after falling from a two-story building, he is once again using the same Jiu Jitsu exercises to restore himself. Although he cannot use his abdomen, legs, or lower back, he is becoming stronger in the other parts of his body that are still functional. He started the IJJWLF to encourage other disabled individuals to get started with Jiu-Jitsu. Go here to read the rest: Man Uses BJJ To Treat Paralysis - Jiu-Jitsu Times … Continue reading →

Last week, after former Ravens linebacker Zach Orr announced he hoped to return to the NFL just five months after retiring with a congenital spine condition, ex-Packer Jermichael Finley said that Orrs story hits very close to home. Finley played six seasons as a tight end in Green Bay but retired following the 2013 season, at age 27, after he sustained a concussion and a serious neck injury in a span of four weeks. In May, Finley wrote an essay for The Players Tribune in which he detailed the circumstances of his concussion history, his career-ending injuries, his retirement, and the hardships of the adjustment to post-football living. Finley has since expanded on that essay in interviews with NPR and ESPN. I spoke to Finley by phone this week. What follows is a transcript of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity. Why does Zach Orrs situation hit so close to home for you? Hes coming back to the NFL, especially with a spinal cord injuryits not like its an ACL or a knee sprain, or things like that you can come back from. A spinal cord injury scares me. I went through it. I know the … Continue reading →

July 7, 2017 by Megan Munsie And John Rasko, The Conversation Stem cells have saved thousands of lives thanks to their applications in cancer treatments. Many other uses peddled by private clinics are without evidence. Credit: http://www.shutterstock.com Stem cell science is an area of medical research that continues to offer great promise. But as this week's paper in Science Translational Medicine highlights, a growing number of clinics around the globe, including in Australia, are exploiting regulatory gaps to sell so-called stem cell treatments without evidence that what they offer is effective or even safe. Such unregulated direct-to-consumer advertising typically of cells obtained using liposuction-like methods not only places the health of individuals at risk, but could also undermine the legitimate development of stem cell-based therapies. Many academic societies and professional medical organisations have raised concerns about these futile and often expensive cell therapies. Despite this, national regulators have typically been slow or ineffective in curtailing them. As well as tighter regulations here, international regulators such as the World Health Organisation and the International Council on Harmonisation need to move on ensuring patients desperate for cures aren't sold treatments with limited efficacy and unknown safety. So what's on offer? Hundreds of … Continue reading →