Surgeons use device to improve spinal injury victims' breathingRSS Feed

26 November 2009

A new device designed to improve breathing in patents with upper spinal cord injuries is to be used by physicians in America.

The device, called the NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System, is designed to slow respiratory decline and give patients more freedom.

Dr Michael DiMaio, associate professor of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern, said: "Patients who have high-level spinal cord injuries are unable to breathe efficiently because the nerve signals no longer function."

With the NeuRx device, four electrodes are implanted into the diaphragm, these receive electrical signals from an external control device in the form of impulses from the phrenic nerve, which causes the diaphragm to expand and contract, drawing in breath.

Dr DiMaio said that the device improves patients' mobility as they do not have to carry a ventilator with them, he added that the surgery to implant the device is much less invasive than previous treatments.

According to website medicinenet.com, an injury to the upper portion of the spinal cord in the neck can not only cause breathing difficulties, but quadriplegia-paralysis of both arms and both legs.

Seruois Law, leading spinal cord injury solicitors. ADNFCR-2547-ID-19480177-ADNFCR