Drug 'aids recovery from spinal injury'RSS Feed

A medication has been seen to help reverse paralysis following spinal injury.

Surgeons at Toronto Western Hospital injected gel-like drug Cethrin into the spine of paralysed roofer John Picco, reports thestar.com.

Two days earlier, the 17-year-old had fallen through an opening on top of a supermarket, which had left him paralysed from the waist down.

Cethrin was used to create a protective layer designed to reverse the damage.

Mr Picco is now able to step around 20 metres with braces and leg press 45 kilograms in the gym.

Dr. Michael Fehlings, director of the hospital's Krembil Neuroscience Centre, said: "There have been very few clinical trials done with reparative or regenerative therapies in humans, very few.

"And this is also one of the few that has really shown promise."

This comes after a study published in the Lancet revealed that a man with spinal cord injury has been able to stand again after undergoing epidural stimulation of his spinal cord.

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Posted by Timothy Walters
 

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