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New hope for quadriplegic people, who are paralyzed by 4 members, thanks to a new technique that has been developed and whose results are promising. It allows to recover a use of the arms. This research has just been published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet .
They are 16 and have all suffered an accident that has made them quadriplegic. An injury of the spinal cord that paralyzes everything below, in this case the four limbs.
A promising new technique
Several studies have been conducted to try to make the use of their members to paralyzed people, but according to the Australian team at the origin of this new technique, few are so promising.
This technique consists of looking for nerves that are attached to muscles that are still functioning, those that are above the lesion. The team then attached these nerves to the paralyzed muscles to revive them.
The researchers focused on the arms, with the goal of restoring elbow extension and the ability to shake hands to catch objects.
A technique that still requires research
Two years after the operation and intense reeducation, the results are conclusive on the 16 patients concerned. 13 of them were able to reach out , use their hands and even brush their teeth.
However, there is still some progress to be made, this technique does not allow to find a mobility equivalent to before the injury and we must also understand why the success rate is not 100%.
Nerve transfer surgery restores hand function and elbow extension in 13 young adults with tetraplegia: finding out from the largest case series of this technique from @Austin_Health @unimelb https://t.co/2kxiJ9a9oR pic.twitter.com/JKYk5F3aoL
The Lancet (@TheLancet) July 4, 2019