Category Archives: Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

The state health department has decided to set up its first neurological rehabilitation centres in the state- that is, dedicated facilities to help patients recover from disabilities caused by brain stroke, spinal cord injury, or other neurological conditions. State health officials are looking in Mumbai and Pune for places in which to house the centres. The development was confirmed by the state's health minister, Dr. Deepak Sawant. "We are working on this project and have asked our officials to look for a suitable place for the centres," said Dr Sawant. WHY ARE THE CENTRES NEEDED? There are no statistics available, but expert estimates peg lakhs of people in need of neuro-rehabilitation each year in the state. Some patients go to private hospitals, which charge high rates for the treatment. Neuro-rehabilitation is expensive, because it involves spending weeks and sometimes months in hospital. The proposed government-run centres will be affordable to the common man, said state health officials. WHAT DOES THE TREATMENT INVOLVE? Neuro-rehabilitation aims at bringing about not only physical but also psychological recovery. Explaining what rehabilitation from a nervous system injury involves, Dr. Palande added, "Patients have to be treated by various specialists including a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, … Continue reading →

The implant, called e-Dura, is so effective because it mimics the soft tissue around the spine known as the dura mater so that the body does not reject its presence. Our e-Dura implant can remain for a long period of time on the spinal cord or cortex, said Professor Stphanie Lacour. This opens up new therapeutic possibilities for patients suffering from neurological trauma or disorders, particularly individuals who have become paralyzed following spinal cord injury. Previous experiments had shown that chemicals and electrodes implanted in the spine could take on the role of the brain and stimulate nerves, causing the rats' legs to move involuntarily when they were placed on a treadmill. But this is the first study to show a simple gadget can help rats walk again and be tolerated by the body. Scientists have struggled to find a device which will sit next to the spine or brain because both are surrounded by a protective envelope of tissue which the hard surface of implants can rub against, causing inflammation and scar tissue. However the new gadget is flexible and stretchy enough that it can be placed directly onto the spinal cord. It closely imitates the mechanical properties of … Continue reading →

Researchers have created an ultra-flexible brain implant that may help restore injured spinal cords and nervous systems without inflammation or infection. "E-dura," named after the dura mater protective layer of the brain and spinal cord, is composed of soft silicone, with gold wiring laid down in a special mesh-like layer that allows it to bend and stretch. Implants need to be flexible because the spinal cord is flexible stiff wiring can cause inflammation or even rejection. The e-dura, however, caused no reaction at all in rats it was implanted in. A more impressive test put e-dura implants in rats that were paralyzed via spinal injury. After a few weeks with e-dura sending electrical and chemical signals along the spinal cord patterned on the rat's brains' own "walk" signal, the rats were on their feet again. A researcher holds the flexible "e-dura" implant. It's not that simple in humans, of course, but having implants that are safe and effective in less complex nervous systems is a great place to start when it comes to human-centric treatment. The research, done at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, appeared in the Jan. 9 issue of the Journal Science. First published January 8 2015, … Continue reading →

Method offers hope to thousands of people left paralysed by spinal injuries It involves giving the spinal cord an electrical stimulation Scientists say this 'teaches' the spinal cord to control limbs and body By Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com Published: 15:55 EST, 6 January 2015 | Updated: 17:25 EST, 6 January 2015 Researchers are set to expand a pioneering treatment that uses electric shocks to stimulate damaged spinal cords, allowing patients to move again. Their most recent subject, 26 year old Calven Goza, was paralysed below the chest two and a half years ago, and told he would never move his legs again. Using a radical implant that mimics signals from the brain, he was able to move his toe and knee. Scroll down for video 26 year old Calven Goza trying the procedure: Using a radical implant that mimics signals from the brain, he was able to move his toe and knee for the first time since he was paralysed below the chest two and a half years ago. The technique involves giving the spinal cord an electrical stimulation to mimic signals from the brain. Scientists say this 'teaches' the spinal cord to control limbs and body functions independently of … Continue reading →

By Partnership for Public Service December 30 at 5:49 PM Dr. William Bauman has worked tirelessly for many years at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in New York to produce a series of medical advances and new drug therapies that have improved the lives of those with spinal cord injuries. Pairing science and clinical practice, Bauman and his team have concentrated on the secondary and often life-threatening consequences of spinal cord injury, and devised remedies to help alleviate patient suffering. William Bauman has led a team of talented doctors in internal medicine, neurology, rehabilitation medicine, physiology and molecular biology to address many of the largely neglected but highly relevant issues that have faced those with spinal cord injury, said Dr. Erik Langhoff, director of the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx where Bauman works. They have been focused on investigating what goes wrong with the body after spinal cord injury and have developed innovative approaches and effective interventions to improve the health and quality of life for persons who are paralyzed, he said. After years of work, Bauman in 2001 established the VAs Rehabilitation Research & Development National Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences … Continue reading →

A UCSF spinout is growing neuronal stemcells to transplant into the brain, for potential use in treating epilepsy, spinal cord injury, Parkinsons and Alzheimers disease and investors are listening. Because one thing thatdifferentiatesNeurona Therapeutics is that its stem cells turn exclusively intointerneuron cells which are less likely to be tumorigenic than other IPS cells. The companyhasraised $7.6 million of a proposed $24.3 million round, according to a regulatory filing. But the companys staying a touch under the radar it lacks a website, and tis the season for calls to the company to remain unanswered. But funding for the six-year-old company comes from 11 investors. Listed on the documents contact pages areTim Kutzkeyand David Goeddel, both partners at early stage healthcare venture firm The Column Group giving some insight into who the startupsinvestors are. Also listed is Leo Guthart, a managing partner at New York private equity firm TopSpin Partner, and Arnold Kriegstein, director of the UCSF developmental and stem cell biology program. Kriegsteinand his UCSF colleagues filed a patentfor the in vitro production of medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) precursor cells which are, in essence, immature cells that morphinto nerve cells. The work that led to the patent was funded bythe … Continue reading →

The AIM-listed biomaterials company, which has its main manufacturing plant in Glasgow, has agreed terms with Turkish firm Desu Medical. That will involve it supplying soluble collagen which will be used in the production of implants for a brain membrane called dura, which surrounds and protects the brain as spinal cord, as well as spinal fusion implants. Loading article content These will then be used in the treatment of injuries by stimulating greater dura and bone generation through the use of highly concentrated collagen. Desu's brain implant is called Decoll and its spinal one is known as Debone. Stewart White, chief executive of Collagen Solutions, said: "This agreement is the culmination of a long association with Desu Medical during which we have been supplying developmental quantities of medical grade collagen. "Winning this contract is based on our ability to convince such an established company that we can supply a medical grade collagen suitable for manufacturing their products consistently and to order, for the life of the product line. "It is important for companies to secure their source of the collagen early in the commercialisation process as this will become part of the regulatory submissions for their products around the World. … Continue reading →

StemCells Lance Testimonial StemCells, Inc., Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Testimonial. By: stemcellsinc … Continue reading →

After an incomplete spinal cord injury, the body can partially recover basic motor function. So-called muscle spindles and associated sensory circuits back to the spinal cord promote the establishment of novel neuronal connections after injury. This circuit-level mechanism behind the process of motor recovery was elucidated by Prof. Silvia Arber's research group at the Biozentrum, University of Basel and the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research. Their findings may contribute to designing novel strategies for treatment after spinal cord injuries and have now been published in the journal Cell. Spinal cord injuries often lead to chronically impaired motor function. However, patients with incomplete spinal cord injury can partially regain their basic motor ability under certain circumstances. It is believed that remaining uninjured spinal cord tissue provides a substrate to form new circuits bridging the injury. How this formation of new connections is triggered and promoted has remained unclear until now. In collaboration with Prof. Grgoire Courtine's research group at the EPFL in Lausanne, the team of Prof. Silvia Arber at the Biozentrum at the University of Basel and the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) has demonstrated in a mouse model why paralyzed limbs can move again after incomplete … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 10-Dec-2014 Contact: Mark Michaud mark_michaud@urmc.rochester.edu 585-273-4790 University of Rochester Medical Center @URMCdiscoveries A new study out today in the journal Neurology shows that pregabalin is not effective in controlling the pain associated with lumbar spinal stenosis, the most common type of chronic lower back pain in older adults. "Chronic low back pain is one of the most common reasons why older adults go to the doctor and lumbar stenosis is the leading indication for surgery in this age group," said John Markman, M.D., director of the Translational Pain Research Program in the University of Rochester Department of Neurosurgery and lead author of the study. "While physicians have increasingly looked for medication alternatives to opioid pain medication like gabapentin and pregabalin to help these patients manage their pain, until now there has been no credible evidence as to whether or not these treatments are effective for this problem." Pregabalin, which is marketed by Pfizer under the name Lyrica, is approved to treat chronic pain associated with shingles, spinal cord injury, fibromyalgia, and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. However, it is also commonly prescribed as an "off label" treatment for chronic low back pain syndromes like lumbar spinal stenosis. Lumbar spinal … Continue reading →