The innumerable people who are suffering from paralysis are now suddenly seeing light at the end of the tunnel thanks to a revolutionary new treatment involving cell transplant carried out by a team of British researchers and Polish doctors on a man suffering from paralysis, as he is now able to walk again. The patient Darek Fidyka a Bulgarian national who suffered a knife attack four years back which left him with a severed spinal cord was completely paralyzed from the chest down. However, with the pioneering work of some surgeons from Poland who collaborated with a few scientists from London, Fidyka can walk again with the help of a frame.
The surgeons made use of nerve-supporting cells from the patient’s nose to provide pathways along which the broken tissue was able to grow. The 38-year-old Fidyka has become the first patient ever to make a full recovery after suffering from severed spinal nerves. His recovery is no less than a miracle as he is now able to lead an independent life as sensation has returned to both his lower limbs.
With this latest case, the doctors have overcome one of the greatest challenges in the field of medicine. The technique was developed by a research team led by professor Geoffrey Raisman at the University College London and was put into practice by a team of doctors in Wroclaw, Poland. The surgery which involved harvesting of the implanted cells known as the olfactory ensheathing cells was carried out in an 8 mm gap in the severed spinal cord of Fidyka. The doctors were not at all hopeful and were surprised to witness the restoration of the nerve fiber connections on both sides of the injury which has led to the return of feelings as well as movement to his legs.
The goal of the team now is to conceptualize this procedure to a point where it can be rolled out as a worldwide generic approach.