Category Archives: Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

UPDATE 12:31 p.m. EST Friday, March 10 Ryan Thomas, an accident victim in the three car collision, was just wheeled into surgery to repair his fractured sacrum. The surgery is expected to take a minimum of 7 hours. Due to being a diabetic and the area of trauma, he is at an increased risk of infection and blood clots. The family is asking for continued prayers. Five-year-old Skarlett is awake, and has fractures through her entire spine. She will be in a neck brace and back brace for six to eight weeks and rehab. Doctors say Peyton may be paralyzed from the neck down, but the family has seen movement in her arms. LANSE TOWNSHIP A three-vehicle accident Wednesday night in LAnse Township sent three people, including two children, to the hospital. #StoryUpdate Five-year-old Scarlet has spinal and intestinal injuries and is being airlifted to Ann Arbor Michigan for Posted by ABC10 & CW5 UP onThursday, March 9, 2017 The family has set up a GoFundMe page to provide updates and raise funds for medical expenses. For more from the family directly, visit gofundme.com/P-Skar. [Seven-year-old Peyton] started to move her arms! said the family in an update. This is great … Continue reading →

A UCLA professor is working to develop a treatment for spinal cord injuries, which are currently incurable. Stephanie Seidlits, assistant professor of bioengineering, will attempt to use biomaterial made out of hyaluronic acid a long chain of sugars in the body to create a treatment that can be injected into spinal cords. Seidlits will conduct the research with students using a $500,000 grant she won March 1. The prestigious CAREER award, granted by the National Science Foundation, aims to support scholars who effectively integrate research with education. Seidlits plans to use her research as a project for students in Bioengineering 177: Bioengineering Capstone Design next fall. Alongside Seidlits, students will be able to investigate the effects of hyaluronic acid on spinal cord cell regeneration using an in vitro device. Using the device, researchers will be able to replicate the cell environment of an injured spinal cord and analyze how HA reacts to that environment. When the spinal cord is injured, HA, a polymer composed of long sugar chains that support tissue structure, breaks down into smaller fragments to initiate healing. The short fragments are supposed to be replaced by longer ones, but sometimes they stay in the spinal cord, causing … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV)today announced that a new patient has been enrolled into The INSPIRE Study (InVivo Study of Probable Benefit of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for Safety and Neurologic Recovery in Subjects with Complete Thoracic AIS A Spinal Cord Injury) at the Keck Hospital of University of Southern California (USC). Patrick Hsieh, M.D., Principal Investigator at this site, performed the implantation approximately 82 hours after the injury occurred. The implantation of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold went smoothly and the patient is recovering well, Dr. Hsieh said. I have now implanted two patients, and it is rewarding to be able to give spinal cord injury patients hope with novel investigational products that were not available previously. I look forward to following and communicating the patients progress. Mark Perrin, InVivos Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, said, We are pleased to hear that the implantation procedure was a success and that the patient is doing well. We now have 12 patients enrolled and in follow up in INSPIRE, and this enrollment marks another significant step toward completing enrollment in the INSPIRE study. For more information, please visit the companys ClinicalTrials.gov registration site: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02138110 About the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold Implant Following acute spinal … Continue reading →

One family of proteins that plants use to combat fungal infections could have an unexpected use: repairing axons the long thread-like parts of a nerve cell. Fluorescent bundles of axons. Image credits Minyoung Choi / Wikipedia. Axons are the large projections that neurons use to ferry signals to other parts of the body. Theyre the main component of white matter, and without them, the nervous communication in the body would grind to a halt.Axonal damage can also lead to a host of disabilities associated with conditions such as spinalcord injury or stroke. Andrew Kaplan, a PhD candidate at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University, was trying to find a substance that could help undo the damage for people suffering these conditions as part ofDr. Alyson Fourniers team, professor of neurology and neurosurgery and senior author on the study. During his research, he found one familyof proteins with neuroprotective functions known as 14-3-3 which could hold the key to creating axon-repairing drugs. This family of proteins takes on a surprisingrole in plants which are fighting off a certain fungal strain. The fungus releases a marker molecule called fusicoccin-A. When exposed to this molecule, the plants leaves will wilt … Continue reading →

Trials have begun on the use of an anti-inflammatory drug with potentially life-changing implications for the future of spinal injuries. Spinal cord injuries are different from many other injuries in that the damage to the tissues will often continue after the initial injury occurs. The swelling and inflammation accompanying such injuries has damaging effects on nerve tissue and, over time, can spread to surrounding healthy tissue. Dr Mark Ruitenberg, who is leading the trial, explained that the treatment aims to target this 'secondary phase' of spinal injuries, whereby the unaffected tissue surrounding the site of the primary, irreversible injury, begins to become damaged. "When the spinal cord gets injured...a lot of things happen including a lot of inflammation," Ruitenberg told The Huffington Post Australia. "This inflammation is having a negative impact on the tissue that is still preserved at the time of the injury. "The more tissue one loses, the less likely the prospects for a recovery of function." The drug -- which is actually made from purified antibodies found within our own blood -- can target this harmful inflammation, with researchers hopeful that it will aid in preventing the loss of healthy tissue. "There is a degree of damage … Continue reading →

March 8, 2017 University of Miami's Miami Project to Cure Paralysis surgical team preparing for a Schwann cell transplantation. Credit: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine / Miami Project to Cure Paralysis The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, today announced the publication of its first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Phase I clinical trial involving human nerve cells used to repair the damaged spinal cord, in the February issue of the Journal of Neurotrauma. The cells, known as Schwann cells, are essential for the repair of nerve damage, and long thought to be able to increase recovery after spinal cord injury. The trial, performed at University of Miami / Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, is the first in a series designed to evaluate the safety and feasibility of transplanting autologous human Schwann cells to treat individuals with spinal cord injuries. The trial enrolled subjects with the least chance of natural recovery in order to firstly establish the safety of the cell transplant procedure; specifically, it targeted people with new SCI, less than 30 days after injury, having sustained a trauma-induced lesion between thoracic levels T3-T11 and who were neurologically … Continue reading →

Neuralstem to Present at 29th Annual ROTH Conference P&T Community Neuralstem's stem cell therapy product candidate, NSI-566, is a spinal cord-derived neural stem cell line. Neuralstem is currently evaluating NSI-566 in three indications: stroke, chronic spinal cord injury (cSCI), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). and more » Read the original: Neuralstem to Present at 29th Annual ROTH Conference - P&T Community … Continue reading →

Science Daily Molecule shown to repair damaged axons Science Daily Besides brain and spinal cord injury, axonal damage is a factor in many other disorders and diseases, including multiple sclerosis and neurodegenerative conditions. The team's discovery means that fusicoccin-A and similar molecules could be the ... and more » Here is the original post: Molecule shown to repair damaged axons - Science Daily … Continue reading →

Idaho Statesman Idaho officer returns home after shooting | Idaho Statesman Idaho Statesman Cpl. Kevin Holtry, shot in the line of duty last fall, is coming home after two months of treatment and rehabilitation in Colorado. He's be the guest of honor at the ... and more » See the original post: Idaho officer returns home after shooting | Idaho Statesman - Idaho Statesman … Continue reading →

BRIDGEWATER, NJ - Izzys Infantry Fighting Pediatric Cancer and Spinal Trauma is holding an upcoming fundraiser with the New Jersey Devils to raise money for the organization to find a cure for childhood cancer. The fundraiser is being held at the Devils game March 19 at 1 p.m. against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Those who purchase tickets through the Izzys Infantry link will be entered for a chance to win one of 12 spots in the tunnel to high five the team as they make their way from the locker room to the ice. A portion of the ticket sales will go to the organization. Sign Up for E-News Izzys Infantry, based in Bridgewater, was founded in 2016 to honor Isabel Izzy Warrior Princess Ritas battle against a spinal cord tumor. Rita was just 1 year old when she underwent a 10-hour spinal cord biopsy and began a 14-month long chemotherapy treatment. Ritas parents began the organization to help ensure that no child will have to endure what their daughter went through. Rita is now 3 years old, and continues her fight to walk, run and play, after the surgery, tumor and chemotherapy left her with physical delays. The organizations … Continue reading →