Category Archives: Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold was designed to be a three-dimensional bandage. Wochit Nick Stockwell attempts to hold himself upright as part of his daily physical therapy sessions.(Photo: Alden Woods) TUCSON One after another, everythingcracked. First wentthe brick wall he never saw and the front end of the Chrysler minivan he never meant to send crashing into it. Then the impactshatteredhis ankles, the screen of his cellphone and his right arm, and finally, agonizingly, the fragile vertebrae that surrounded Nick Stockwells spinal cord. Paramedics came to the Holiday Inn parking lot and pried him out of the front seat. He tried to stand, but only half of his body responded:In his chest and arms he felt nothing but pain, and in his legs he felt nothing at all. He collapsed to the pavement. They gave Nick five shots of painkillers, loaded him into an ambulance and made the nine-mile drive to Banner University Medical Center in Tucson. After hours of X-rays and MRIs, Nick borrowed his uncles phone and called his dad in Michigan, where it was 4 a.m. Something really bad happened, Nickstarted,and then hetold his dad everything he could remember: He had pulled up to the hotel and unhooked his … Continue reading →

Dr. Dana Matthews, YourNews contributor 6:04 p.m. ET May 11, 2017 Dana Matthews Dust Off(Photo: Submitted photo) PORT ST.LUCIE -- For most veterans, the decision of when, where and how to receive health care can be one of the most challenging decisions we can make. One decision is whether to use the Veterans Choice Program. The Veterans Choice Program (VCP) provides primary care, inpatient and outpatient specialty care, and behavioral health care options. Eligible Veterans must also meet at least one of the following criteria: Many veterans with SCI/D meet the medical condition as well as other criteria. Consequently, some of the barriers to timely medical care for VA SCI/D patients have been eliminated by using the Veteran's Choice Program (VCP). VCP is an appropriate option when VA SCI/D patients seek care for treatments that don't require special expertise to diagnose or treat. Conditions such as broken bones, flu, pneumonia and urinary tract infection are a few appropriate conditions for the VCP. But spinal cord injuries and diseases along with their associated problems, can proven extremely vexing and challenging for the most experienced healthcare providers when treating fairly healthy SCI/D patients. Unfortunately, most of us with SCI/D come with a … Continue reading →

Atlanta-based Shepherd Center appointed Michael Yochelson, MD, its new CMO, according to Atlanta Business Chronicle. Here are five highlights: 1. Shepherd Center represents one of two U.S. hospitals dedicated to the treatment and rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain as well as other neuromuscular conditions. 2. When he steps into his CMO role on Sept. 6, Dr. Yochelson will focus on establishing relationships with consulting physicians from other hospitals. 3. He currently is the vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at Washington, D.C.-based MedStar National Rehabilitation Network. He established the Brain Injury Medicine Fellowship at the hospital. 4. Dr. Yochelson served almost 12 years in the U.S. Navy, during which he served as the sole neurologist and physiatrist stationed in Japan. 5. He has focused his career on neuro-rehabilitation, treating veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. More articles on spine: Drs. Jay Wellons, Johnny Delashaw & more: 6 spine & neurosurgeons in this week's headlines Does patient satisfaction correlate with health-related quality of life in spinal deformity surgery patients? 5 key notes Military personnel undergoing MIS spine 3 details Originally posted here: Shepherd Center spinal cord, brain injury … Continue reading →

Shepherd Center names new medical chief Atlanta Business Chronicle Shepherd Center is one of two hospitals in the United States that focuses on treatment and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain and other neuromuscular conditions. It also has a ... Link: Shepherd Center names new medical chief - Atlanta Business Chronicle … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV)today announced that Kristin Neff, Vice President, Clinical Operations, will present at the Combined Canadian Spinal Cord and Ontario Spinal Cord Injury Research Network Meeting on Saturday, May 13, 2017 at 2:40 PM ET at the Marriott Eaton Center in Toronto, Ontario. Ms. Neff will present an abstract titled Interim Clinical Results from the Ongoing INSPIRE Pivotal Study to Assess the Safety and Probable Benefit of the Investigational Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for Treatment of Acute Thoracic AIS A Spinal Cord Injury. Mark Perrin, Chairman and CEO, said, The Canadian Spinal Cord and Ontario Spinal Cord Injury Research Network Meeting will be a great opportunity for us to continue to engage with the Canadian spinal cord injury research and care network, and we look forward to providing an update on the INSPIRE clinical results. For more information on the INSPIRE study, please visit the companys ClinicalTrials.gov registration site: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02138110. About the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold Implant Following 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 regeneration across the healed wound epicenter. … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV)today announced that a new patient has been enrolled into 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) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. Jason J. Chang, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and co-study investigator, performed the surgery and implantation approximately 77 hours after the injury occurred. Mark Perrin, InVivos Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, said, We were pleased to hear that the procedure was a success and that the patient is doing well. We now have 15 patients enrolled and in follow up, and we look forward to completing enrollment in the INSPIRE study. For more information on the INSPIRE study, please visit the companys ClinicalTrials.gov registration site: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02138110 About the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold Implant Following 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 regeneration across the healed wound epicenter. The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, an investigational device, has received a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) … Continue reading →

By foot and wheelchair, more than 155,000 participants took off on a simultaneous start around the world to raise money for spinal cord research. In the cold and damp pre-dawn hours, some 1,600 racers waited for the starting gun. When it sounded, they took off down the Santa Clarita, Calif., streets in a chase-style race. The crowd of nearly 2,000 runners and wheelchair participants was a respectable showing for any charity event. But these racers were joined by 155,000 others who took off at the same moment in 57 other countries around the planet. The fourth-annual Wings For Life World Runwas a resounding success, with a record number of participants and more than $7.1 million raised for spinal cord research. Launched in 2014, the Red Bull-sponsored event is a unique format. The globalchase drives an urgency and excitement among participants that sets it apart from most running events. Moreover, Red Bull donates 100-percent of entry fees to the Wings For Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation. It has since raised more than $23 million toward advances in spinal cord injury treatment. The race has grown each year, both for its charitable endeavor and its unique style. A half-hour following a mass … Continue reading →

A young man in Tunisia who was in a high-speed crash suffered a broken neck in an injury doctors call a "hangman's fracture" yet recovered with no lingering problems, according to a recent report of the man's case. A "hangman's fracture" refers to a neck injury that occurs when a person's neck snaps backwards, as it would during a hanging. And though the name refers to an act that's far less common today than it once was, the injury itself is not incredibly rare: Dr. Anis Khelifi, who was an orthopedic surgeon at the Kassab Orthopedic Institute in Tunisia when he treated the patient, said he's seen this type of fracture twice. [Here's a Giant List of the Strangest Medical Cases We've Covered] The fracture occurs in the second cervical vertebra (in other words, the second-from-the-top vertebra of the spine), and is the second most common type of fracture for this vertebra, Khelifi told Live Science. After the car crash, which took place in August 2012, the 25-year-old man came to the emergency room in severe pain, according to the brief report of the man's case, which was published today (May 3) in The New England Journal of Medicine. The … Continue reading →

Red Bull Wings for Life World Run: What You Need to Know Red Bull The aim is to raise funds for the treatment of spinal cord injury, ultimately to make spinal cord injury curable, says Colin Jackson, an Olympic medallist from the UK, who broke world records in the 110m and 60m hurdles and is the Sports Director of ... and more » Continued here: Wings for Life World Run: What You Need to Know - Red Bull … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.(BUSINESS WIRE)InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV) today provided a clinical update, an update on patients in the INSPIRE study of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, and reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2017. The AIS grade improvement rate observed thus far in the INSPIRE study compares favorably to the natural history of spinal cord injury Clinical/Regulatory Update Mark Perrin, InVivos Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, said, In the first quarter, we continued to make significant progress at InVivo and with the INSPIRE study. By early April, we had enrolled four new patients into the INSPIRE study, with three patients enrolled within 30 days of each other. We also announced four new clinical sites for the INSPIRE study. In addition to progress with INSPIRE enrollment and sites, we achieved several regulatory milestones. Health Canada approved the companys Investigational Testing Authorization application to commence a clinical study of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold in patients with acute, complete (AIS A) cervical (C5-T1) spinal cord injuries (SCIs), and we announced the opening of our first site for the cervical study, Toronto Western Hospital. We also announced the Medicines Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approval of the companys Clinical Trial Authorization Application to commence … Continue reading →