Can spinal cord injuries be reversed?

Reducing secondary damage
But surgery alone can’t stop the secondary damage to the cord that occurs in the hours, days and weeks after the primary injury. Spinal tissues continue to discharge toxic chemicals that kill and disable nerve cells some distance away from the core injury, compounding the damage and limiting the possibilities for recovery.

Right now those possibilities are expanding, thanks to a virtual explosion of spinal cord research – ranging from promising animal experiments to the first clinical trials in patients. And Canadian scientists are at the forefront of efforts to develop and test new drugs and rehabilitation methods to reverse the “permanent” effects of spinal cord injuries.

So, while Franci was in the intensive care unit awaiting surgery, Dr. Steve Casha asked if she would participate in a pilot study of an experimental drug that could potentially reduce the secondary damage and enhance her recovery. With the blink of an eye (the only way she could communicate) Franci was enrolled in the world’s first clinical trial using minocycline for spinal cord injury.

Paralysis
The next morning, Karl and the kids flew to Calgary. “Franci was in really tough shape, but it was important for her to know the kids were OK. Aspen stood up on a chair so she could see him first. That was a huge relief for her.”

Like Franci, at least half of new spinal cord injury patients suffer damage to cervical segments of the spinal cord, causing paralysis in both the upper and lower body. Before her devastating accident, Franci was very fit and active. “She started the first female hockey team in Canal Flats,” says Karl. “She ran, hiked, golfed, lifted weights and did yoga and wakeboarding.”

She also ran the gift shop and did the accounting for the family’s thriving log-home and resort-building business. After her injury, Franci was paralyzed from her chest down and could only partially move her arms and hands. “Her biggest challenge was being able to breathe,” says Karl. “Franci worked really hard to get breathing on her own.”

Growing possibilites
In the past, the best that people with severe spinal cord injuries could hope for was quality care to preserve their post-injury capabilities, rather than effective treatments to restore mobility. “The floodgates have opened. There was nothing five years ago. There are now dozens of different treatments that are currently being validated,” says John Steeves, a spinal cord researcher at the University of British Columbia (UBC) who holds the position of The John and Penny Ryan B.C. Leadership Chair in Spinal Cord Injury Research and is the director of ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries) in Vancouver.

These new research initiatives offer patients like Franci the still dim, but growing, hope of being able to walk again – or at least gain more movement and sensation, and become more independent.

Scientists today believe that a cure for spinal cord injuries will depend on a combination of treatment strategies that includes neuroprotection, regeneration and rehabilitation.

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