A new technique that restores movement after spina bifida

A motorcycle accident in 2017 left Michele Rocati with a complete paralysis of the lower body due to a devastating spinal cord injury.

But now, the Italian is walking again, thanks to groundbreaking Swiss research that restores motor function within a day via carefully targeted electrical stimulation.

And Rocati speaks at a press conference hosted, Monday, by Nature Medicine, which published the results of this research, about the difference between yesterday and today, saying: “At the beginning, I could not move my leg muscles, and I did not feel anything, and now I can stand, walk and climb the stairs".

According to the World Health Organization, every year between 250,000 and half a million people around the world suffer a serious spinal cord injury, often as a result of a fall, violence or a traffic accident. For premature death increases by two to five times.

Worcati is one of three patients enrolled in the Swiss trial, all men between the ages of 29 and 41, each of whom had suffered a complete spinal cord injury at least a year prior to the start of the study.

This means they couldn't move the legs, and they didn't have any sensation above the legs," says study author Dr. Jocelyn Bloch, a neurosurgeon and head of the functional neurosurgery unit at the University Hospital Lausanne in Switzerland.

Speaking at the press conference, Bloch recalled that in 2020, the three men underwent surgery at Lausanne University Hospital to implant a pacemaker in the abdomen and electrodes directly on the spinal cord.

These electrodes are in themselves an important innovation, explained study colleague and neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine, who works at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, as they are designed to be durable and precisely positioned to target all areas of the spinal cord relevant for trunk and leg muscle activation. .

The electrodes were then paired with new software, Curtin said, which facilitated the creation of highly personalized maps of each patient's spinal cord.

The software also provides a simple tablet-based interface that allows patients and physiotherapists to easily set up semi-automated stimulation programs that enable a variety of movements.

Patients can operate these programs themselves, via a tablet and small remote controls that can communicate wirelessly with the patient's pacemaker.

For Rocati, it all meant that after a 10-day post-operative recovery, rehabilitation began - “I could walk after one day,” he said, and remote controls are connected to his treadmill.

Thanks to this technology, the three patients were able, immediately after surgery, to stand and walk,” Bloch said during the press conference.

Each day, with the stimulation on, Michel is able to stand for two hours, walk about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) straight, without stopping, as well as run up and down stairs. When the stimulation was turned off, he had some recovery, but To a very limited extent," Curtin said.

Claudia Angeli, director of the Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, USA, comments on this effort, noting that the Swiss team's work is "encouraging", but said that other methods also show excellence.

"This group uses a very specific stimulation method," she said, while alternative efforts work on directly stimulating brain signals.

Such alternative approaches, Angeli noted, "showed similar results, and both show promise for recovery after spinal cord injury.