Learning to walk again would be great, but for many people with paralysis, shorter bathroom sessions would be a banner achievement.
An ongoing clinical study at Minneapolis hospitals called E-Stand is reporting early success using an implantable medical device designed in Minnesota called a spinal cord stimulator to restore volitional movement and autonomic functions in patients paralyzed from the mid-back down.
"Volitional movements" means being able to move your legs on purpose, while "autonomic functions" refers to functions governed by autonomic nervous system largely without conscious thought, such as regulating blood pressure, urination, and sexual arousal.
Although restoring a person's ability to walk may make for great TV, restoring autonomic functions tops the priorities list for many people with paralysis, E-Stand investigators say.
"In people who have mid-thoracic injuries, the thing that comes up near the top of the list every time is actually bowel and bladder," said Dr. Ann Parr, a lead investigator with E-Stand and assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota.
E-Stand aims to enroll about 100 people with paralysis who are willing to have a spinal cord stimulator made by Abbott Laboratories implanted experimentally in their backs. (More information is available here.)
The magnitude of autonomic changes and movement abilities early on prompted the team to publish an initial report on their first two patients.
"We chose to disseminate our novel discoveries at this early stage as the significant motor and autonomic findings have immediate implications" for general perceptions about the therapy, the Jan. 22 study report in the Journal of Neurotrauma says.