Hypothermia 'leads to miraculous spinal injury recovery'RSS Feed

A gymnast who suffered a severe spinal cord injury during a failed double flip has amazed doctors by walking out of the hospital just days later, thanks to hypothermic treatment.

Jorge Valdez landed on his head during the gymnastic move, dislocating two vertebrae, which led to almost total motor and sensory failure.

Doctors used hypothermic treatment on Mr Valdez, which uses cold to reduce swelling and inflammation in victims of severe trauma.

The Miami Herald reports Dr Steven Vanni, of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, as saying that the injury provided the "perfect storm" for the successful application of the hypothermia treatment.

"We were able to immediately take him to the operating room and get his neck decompressed and fix the dislocation. Number two, we immediately started him on a hypothermia protocol to cool his body down to 33.5 degrees Centigrade," he said.

Meanwhile, Millennium Research Group senior analyst Deanna Venkessel said that spinal injury treatment using minimally invasive surgery has become more popular among surgeons, as they become more expert at administering them.

Serious Law, award winning brain injury law firm

Posted by Timothy Walters
 

Employers 'must take measures to avoid spinal injury'

16 February 2011

Experts have advised that employers take safety measures to ensure their workers do not have any major accidents at that could lead to spinal injury.Roger Bibbings, of the Royal Society for the Prevention...

Read More...

Minimally-invasive spinal injury treatment 'getting more popular'

15 February 2011

Treatment of spinal injury using minimally invasive procedures is getting more popular among surgeons, who are becoming proficient at administering them, it has been claimed. These kinds of procedures...

Read More...

Spinal injury nerve cell repair may soon be boosted by sugar residue treatment

15 February 2011

Spinal injury may soon have better treatments, following research which linked sugar residues in the back to the growth and survival of nerve cells.Certain types of residues, known as chondroitin sulfate...

Read More...