Back market of a paralyzed first produced

Paralyzed makes first steps thanks to nasal cells in the spinal cord

21/10/2014

In 2010, a 38-year-old Bulgarian had his spinal cord severed during a knife attack. Since then, the man was paralyzed from the hip down. Now, thanks to an operation in which supportive cells of the sense of smell have been taken from him and implanted in the spinal column, the man can go back with supports and drive a car. In addition, he has again "feeling in the legs". Researcher Geoffrey Raisman of University College London said BBC's BBC broadcast on Tuesday was "more impressive than letting people walk on the moon".

Polish surgeons had implanted the olfactory sheath cells in the spine of the man, thereby building a bridge over which the damaged nerve tissue could grow together again. „Walking again, though with a walker, was an incredible feeling“, so the patient. And further: „When you can almost feel your half body, you are helpless, but when the feeling comes back, it is like being born again,“ BBC News health quotes the overjoyed patient Darek Fidyka.

The method was developed by the British Raisman and his team. According to the information, this method had now for the first time outside the laboratory and in a human success. Raisman told the Guardian: „We believe this treatment, if developed further, is the breakthrough that is becoming a historic success for paraplegics whose prospects are currently hopeless.” The results were published in the journal "Cell Transplantation". (Jp)

Picture: Martin Jäger