London - The British neuroscientist whose work with regenerative cells helped a paraplegic man with a severed spinal cord to walk again said on Tuesday that his technique could herald a cure for stroke victims.
University College London's Geoff Raisman led a British team that worked with a Polish neurosurgeon to knit together nerve fibres severed when Darek Fidyka was stabbed in the back four years ago.
Fidyka, who was given an infinitesimal chance of regaining feeling below his waist, can now walk with a frame and has been able to resume an independent life.
“We believe that this procedure is the breakthrough which, as it is further developed, will result in a historic change in the currently hopeless outlook for people disabled by spinal cord injury,” Raisman said.
Raisman believes success in patients with spinal cord injuries will open the way to applying similar principles to devise new approaches to stroke, blindness and deafness.
It has been 40 years since Raisman first described how the nerve fibres that carry the sense of smell from the nose to the brain were able to regenerate themselves.
These olfactory ensheathing cells were transplanted from Fidyka's nose to either side of the 8-millimetre cut that a knife left in his spinal cord.
“The edges were fairly close together - the ideal situation to try and join them,” Raisman said, describing how Polish neurosurgeon Pawel Tabako has used his technique to give Fidyka mobility.
The surgery on the 40-year-old former fireman was performed in the Polish city of Wroclaw in 2012. The procedure has only just been described in the science journal Cell Transplantation. - Sapa-dpa