Doctors who helped paralyzed man walk seek new patients

The paralyzed Polish man who regained the ability to walk after receiving a revolutionary treatment said he was a "lucky devil" on Wednesday, as his doctors announced they were looking for new candidates for the procedure.

Darek Fidyka, 40, was paralyzed from the chest down by a knife attack in 2010, but can now walk using a frame after nerve cells were transplanted into his severed spinal column two years ago.

"I hope to recover further," said Fidyka alongside his doctors at a news conference in the southwestern city of Wroclaw, a day after the research behind the breakthrough treatment was published in the journal Cell Transplantation.

"The attack turned my life upside down," the former firefighter told reporters. "Since the surgical operation, it's been steps in the opposite direction.

"I'm already able to get myself into bed, to dress and undress without help, to drive," he said, as tears welled up in his eyes.

"I'm still having a hard time processing it all. I'm a lucky devil, relatively speaking."

However, Wlodzimierz Jarmundowicz, the head of neurosurgery at the Polish clinic where the operation was carried out, cautioned against raising "the hopes of every person with a damaged spine".

The treatment can only be applied to "injuries caused by a sharp instrument, like a machete," he said.

Pawel Tabakow, who led the team of surgeons that carried out the procedure, said the injury "is very rare".

They are now looking for two more patients with similar injuries from across the world.

The criteria will be posted, in Polish, on the website of the Akron Neuro-Rehabilitation Center in Wroclaw, where Fidyka is recovering.

An English version will go up on the website of University College London's Institute of Neurology, whose research team collaborated on the project.

'No looking back'

The two institutions had worked "in synergy" on the project for years, but it was chance that led to the revolutionary treatment, Tabakow said.

He said that doctors generally take the cells that are supposed to promote nerve regeneration from the patient's nose, but that was not possible in Fidyka's case because of sinus inflammation.

Instead, they transplanted cells from his olfactory bulb, which required them to open up his skull - a "risky" procedure, according to Tabakow.

The scientists involved believe the cells, implanted above and below the injury, enabled damaged fibers to reconnect.

Geoff Raisman, chair of neural regeneration at the London institute, said: "We believe ... this procedure is the breakthrough which, as it is further developed, will result in a historic change in the currently hopeless outlook for people disabled by spinal cord injury."

"While this study is only in one patient, it provides hope of a possible treatment for restoration of some function in individuals with complete spinal cord injury," said John Sladek, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in the United States.

But other scientists have responded more cautiously, saying it is important to await the results of clinical testing with more cases.

Fidyka said: "Whoever decides to follow suit and get involved, he'll have to forge ahead with unflinching determination and no looking back.

Reporters were shown video footage of Fidyka before surgery and several months after the procedure. One scene showed the former goalkeeper kicking a ball.

"I'm 40, too old to take up football again," Fidyka said, before adding that Colombia goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon was 43 years old during this year's World Cup.

"So I'm not losing hope."

AFP - Reuters

(China Daily 10/24/2014 page10)