An implant is transforming the lives of spinal cord injury patients, addressing a common yet serious complication\u2014unstable blood pressure. <\/p>\n
Research led by teams at several universities worldwide, including the University of Calgary, shows that a new implantable system on patients\u2019 spines can restore blood pressure balance after a spinal cord injury.<\/p>\n
The findings, published in both Nature and Nature Medicine, describe a targeted therapy to address blood pressure regulation in 14 patients across four clinical studies conducted at three medical centres in Canada, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlood pressure is a profound issue after a spinal cord injury, both highs and lows,\u201d said Aaron Phillips, an associate dean at the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, who is involved in the research. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is because the spinal cord is disconnected from the brain, which is responsible for controlling blood pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phillips explains that low blood pressure can lead to fainting and reduced energy, while high blood pressure can increase the risk of a stroke.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also know that this blood pressure instability that happens after a spinal cord injury can lead to cardiovascular disease over the long term,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One of the 14 participants in the clinical trial is Cody Krebs from Alberta.<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old says a semi-truck blew through a stop sign and t-boned his vehicle in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat resulted in me breaking my neck \u2014 C6 and C7 level,\u201d said Krebs.<\/p>\n
Krebs is now in a wheelchair and the damage to his spinal cord means he can\u2019t regulate his blood pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get really lightheaded and dizzy, and my ears can start ringing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As part of the trial, Krebs had one of the implantable systems surgically placed in his spine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a device that is implanted around the spinal cord. It delivers a low electrical current to basically replace the signal the brain would normally give to control blood pressure,\u201d said Dr. Fady Girgis, a neurosurgeon and associate professor at the University of Calgary.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurgery, of course, carries some risk, but these devices have been around for a long time and are generally very safe. They can prevent patients from needing to take blood pressure medications.\u201d<\/p>\n
The electrical currents in Krebs\u2019 device are controlled externally with a remote. A new prototype has been developed that allows the currents to be delivered without a remote.<\/p>\n
Krebs says his quality of life has improved immensely with the implant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s helped me get back into work because I\u2019m not exhausted all the time,\u201d said Krebs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I have it on throughout the day, I find I can spend more time in the evenings without being tired and having to go to bed early.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company that developed the implantable neurostimulation system that were used in the studies has received FDA approval to initiate a pivotal trial of the therapy. The trial is expected to involve about 20 neurorehabilitation and neurosurgical research centers across Canada, Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An implant is transforming the lives of spinal cord injury patients, addressing a common yet serious complication\u2014unstable blood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[712,49,48,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-153870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}