An experimental treatment restored partial feeling in his legs to the paralyzed man
Scientists from Great Britain and Poland report success in an experimental treatment for the rehabilitation of a severe spinal cord injury. Dark Fidika from Bulgaria, was left paralyzed from the chest down after being stabbed in the back four years ago.
In a unique treatment at a hospital in Wroclaw, nerve cells were taken from the olfactory glands in his nose, grown in culture and then transplanted into his spinal cord. According to the researchers, these cells allow the regrowth of torn nerve fibers, and thanks to the treatment, the sensation in Pidika's legs partially returned, and he is now able to walk, with the help of a support. The details of the treatment are published in the journal Cell Transplantation, and the researchers say that they now intend to conduct clinical trials with the new method on ten more spinal cord victims.
Dr. Pavel Tabkov, neurologist-surgeon at the University of Wroclaw and assistant to the chief surgeon, Prof. Geoffrey Raisman, chairman of the Neuroregeneration Laboratory at the Institute of Neurology at University College London and according to him, transplanting cells from Piedika's nose to his damaged spine is part of a pioneering treatment .
"When the feeling started to come back, the feeling is that you are starting to come back to life again, as if I was reborn," Fidika told the BBC's Panorama television program.
Prof. Raisman said in the same program: "What we did was to establish a new principle, according to which the nerve fibers can regrow and restore functions, given the right bridge." To me, that's more impressive than a man walking on the moon. I believe that the moment will come when it will be possible to reverse nerve injuries and paralysis"
