Posted on 05/20/2011 5:43:05 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB
After Rob Summers was struck by a hit-and-run driver in 2006 and left paralyzed from the chest down, he faced the grim prospect of spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair. And despite three years of intensive therapy, he showed no signs of improving.
But after becoming the first patient to undergo an experimental treatment, he can now do something no one else in his condition has ever been able to do: stand up; move his hips, knees and ankles; wiggle his toes; and even take a few steps, Summers and his doctors announced Thursday.
"This procedure has completely changed my life," Summers, 25, of Portland, Ore., said of the treatment, which involved stimulating his spinal cord with implanted electrodes.
"For someone who for four years was unable to even move a toe, to have the freedom and ability to stand on my own is the most amazing feeling."
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
LOL.
Dang, Medtronic is going to be a buy today.
The idea of the brain being the "primary" electronic relay system has now been challenged. Wonderful.
Summers' ability to move lasts only while the stimulator is activated, and doctors are limiting his use to a few hours at a time.Bladder control alone would be big. Hugh, even . . .But Summers, who said he feels an intense tingling sensation when the electrodes are activated, has also regained some sensation in his lower body, including the ability to feel injections as well as control over his bladder and some sexual function.
I have a spinal cord stimulator — made by ABS rather than Medtronic — so I’m familiar with the use of electrodes being placed on the spinal cord. Mine is for pain management, but to see the system used to give paralyzed patients a chance at a new life is incredible.
Cyborgs unite! And we don’t need to murder babies! ;)
Hope it helps some of our warriors!!
The device, called RestoreADVANCED, is sold by Fridley-based Medtronic for a different purpose - to control pain. Medtronic wasn't involved in the study, though it supports "exploration of new applications for spinal cord stimulation," the company said in an emailed statement."We are intrigued by the results of the study and pleased the patient is doing well," Medtronic said.
And yet Medtronic just announced mass layoffs. This may be the greatest medical breakthrough that Obamacare refused to pay for.
No surprise. Medtronics made the decision several years ago to get out of actual manufacturing, and become a medical holding company that bought up small companies and their technology. My company had developed an advanced detection methodology for a blood clotting agent. We licensed the tech to Medtronic. Unfortunately, we neglected to include a "you lose it if you don't use it" clause in the contract. Turns out Medtronics had just bought a company that made a competing (but less accurate/precise) method. So Medtronics shelved our stuff as "too advanced for the current market", and we were left hung out to dry. Won't make THAT mistake again!
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