PARIS, April 7 (Benin News) –
A patient suffering from a debilitating neurodegenerative disease was able to get up and walk once more following being bedridden for more than a year, thanks to an innovative system developed by a team of scientists from the NeuroRestore research center led by Jocelyne Bloch , neurosurgeon at the CHUV in Lausanne, and Grégoire Courtine, professor of neurosciences at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
Their system, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, uses electronics implanted directly into the spinal cord to reactivate neurons that regulate blood pressure, preventing the patient from losing consciousness whenever she finds herself in a vertical position.
The implant had already been used to treat arterial hypotension in quadriplegic patients, but this is the first time that it has been applied to this type of neurodegenerative disease, considerably improving the patient’s quality of life.
The study patient suffers from multiple system atrophy parkinsonian type (MSA-P), a neurodegenerative disease that affects several parts of the nervous system, including the sympathetic nervous system. After being bedridden for 18 months, the patient can now walk up to 250 meters.
AMS-P causes the loss of sympathetic neurons that regulate blood pressure, which therefore tends to drop dramatically as soon as patients are in an upright position – a problem known as orthostatic hypotension – leading in some cases to fainting. This makes them more likely to fall, limits their ability to stand and walk, and can shorten their lifespan. Patients’ quality of life is significantly reduced, as they must remain in a lying position to avoid fainting.
The implant consists of electrodes connected to an electrical pulse generator which is commonly used to treat chronic pain. After implanting their device directly into the patient’s spinal cord, the scientists saw an improvement in the body’s ability to regulate blood pressure, which allowed the patient to remain conscious longer in an upright position and begin a physiotherapy to resume walking.
For Jocelyne Bloch, also a professor at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), this breakthrough opens the way to major clinical advances in the treatment of degenerative diseases.
“We have already seen how this type of therapy can be applied to patients with spinal cord injuries,” she says. But we can now see applications in the treatment of impairments resulting from neurodegeneration. This is the first time that we have been able to improve blood pressure regulation in people with SMA.
Grégoire Courtine adds: “This technology was initially intended to relieve pain, not for this type of application. In the future, we plan, together with our company Onward Medical, to develop a system specifically for orthostatic hypotension, which can help people around the world who are struggling with this disorder,” he announces.