Monitoring during surgery will help us better understand the spinal cord without damaging it, which in turn will help us develop better therapies for conditions such as chronic pain, hypertension or inflammation
Damiano Barone
The devices were implanted using an adaptation to the surgical routine procedure so that they could slide under the spinal cord without damaging it. In the tests using rat models, the researchers successfully used devices to stimulate the movement of the limbs. The devices showed a very low latency, that is, their reaction time was close to the human reflective movement. Other tests in human corpses showed that devices can be placed successfully in humans.
Researchers say their approach could change the way in which column injuries are treated in the future. Current attempts to treat spinal injuries involve brain and spinal implants, but Cambridge researchers say that brain implants may not be necessary. “If someone has a spinal injury, their brain is fine, but it is the connection that has been interrupted,” said Barone. “As a surgeon, you want to go where the problem is, so adding brain surgery on spinal surgery only increases the risk for the patient. We can collect all the information we need from the spinal cord in a much less invasive way, so this would be a much safer approach to treat spinal injuries.”
While a treatment for column injuries is still years away, in the closest term, devices could be useful for researchers and surgeons to learn more about this vital part, but little studied, in a human way in a non -invasive way. Cambridge researchers currently plan to use devices to monitor nerve activity in the spinal cord during surgery. “It has been almost impossible to study the entire spinal cord in a human, because it is very delicate and complex,” Barone said. “Monitoring during surgery will help us better understand the spinal cord without damaging it, which in turn will help us develop better therapies for conditions such as chronic pain, hypertension or inflammation. This approach shows enormous potential to help patients.”
The research was supported by the Royal College of Surgeons, the Academy of Medical Sciences, Health Education, England, the National Institute for Health Research and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of the research and innovation of the United Kingdom (UKRI).
Source: University of Cambridge
