Spinal injury patient breathing aid to help neurological disease patients?RSS Feed

A device that helps spinal cord injury patients to breathe could soon be available to patients with a fatal neurological disease.

Synapse Biomedical Incorporated hopes to raise $1.2 million (£745,249) to repay debt and prepare to supply its diaphragm pacing technology, called NeuRx, to patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Medcitynews.com reports.

The company has raised over $433,000 (£268,910) so far from investors.

NeuRx was approved for sale to spinal cord injury patients by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2008.

The device provides electrical stimulation to nerves, causing the diaphragm to contract, mimicking natural breathing, which many spinal cord injury patients are unable to do without assistance.

It gives some patients who have been living in ventilator wards the opportunity to live at home and even to travel.

At the time of the FDA approval, Synapse Biomedical Incorporated said that the device had the "promise of reducing healthcare costs while improving outcomes".

Serious Law, leading spinal cord injury solicitors

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