In a breakthrough surgery, scientists have successfully restored arm function in paralyzed patients, letting them use their hands, use electronic devices and even feed themselves.
According to a new groundbreaking study, surgeons in Australia have performed a surgery on paralyzed patients, giving them back their lost ability to feed themselves, use tools and handle electronic devices.
Several operations and intense physiotherapy was performed on 13 young adults suffering from spinal injuries called tetraplegic in the largest ever application of technique dubbed as nerve transfer surgery.
The team successfully attached individual nerves from above the area of the spinal injury to nerves below the trauma place. The functioning, healthy nerves were then used in order to trigger paralyzed muscles below the injury area, as per Daily Mail.
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These nerves were taken from small shoulder or arm muscles, which the surgeons called ‘spare’ and won’t grow back in their actual location.
Each nerve transfer took approximately two hours of reconstruction, and the team carried out 99 nerve transfers overall. Before the surgery, none of the patients scored on grasp or pinch strength tests. However, two years after the surgery, most of the patients were able to reach out their arms, open and close their palms and control objects.
“Nerve transfers have been around for a long time but they weren’t really being used for spinal cord injury before,” study leader Natasha van Zyl told AFP.
“We believe nerve transfer surgery offers an exciting new option, offering individuals with paralysis the possibility of regaining arm and hand functions. [This would allow them] to perform everyday tasks and give them greater independence and the ability to participate more easily in family and work life.”
Though the surgery was not perfect and did go through some failures, the team said that the technique was still a ‘major advance’ in efforts to give patients a bit of independence.