Implant can offer relief to people with spinal cord injuries
The news is welcome for 59-year-old Ciaran McCarthy, who experiences pain more than two decades after suffering a spinal cord injury while playing rugby on a sodden playing surface.
'On the January 27th, 2002, I became a paraplegic as a consequence of playing rugby. I'm an avid rugby fan to this day. I don't blame rugby at all. I do blame a waterlogged pitch.'
McCarthy got stuck in the mud, he said, and as a ruck collapsed on top of him he heard two fractures occurring in his back.
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'There was this dissipation of sensation from the midsection down and out my body. That was when I knew I was in trouble.'
'The diagnosis was initially devastating,' said McCarthy, aged 35 at the time of the injury. 'Doctors believed the cord was entirely severed, requiring metal insertion to stabilise the vertebrae.'
Ciaran McCarthy. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Adult spinal cord nerve cells in humans don't regenerate after injury, but scientists working in collaboration at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Trinity College Dublin have found that applying an electrical charge can encourage nerve regrowth.
The RCSI tissue engineering group and the Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Material and Bioengineering Research (Amber) reported their findings on Tuesday in Advanced Science.
'Our group is developing electrically conducive biomaterials that could channel electrical stimulation across the injury, helping the body to repair the damaged tissue,' said Prof Fergal O'Brien, professor of bioengineering and regenerative medicine at the RCSI.
'Every single spinal cord injury is completely unique,' said Prof O'Brien, the lead scientist on the implant project. 'Our fundamental goal isn't about enabling walking, but dramatically improving daily quality of life for patients.'
The researchers developed a new material to precisely engineer implants, to tailor them to individual patient needs.
The origins of the project stem from a scientific conference where Dr Ian Woods, a research fellow at RCSI, noticed similarities between tiny nano-material structures and human protein fibres.
This sparked a collaboration between researchers at the RCSI and Amber – a respected centre for advanced materials research.
'We can now create implants that precisely channel electrical signals with an unprecedented level of resolution,' said Dr Woods.
The scientists came up with a way to control the pattern, density and orientation of conductive materials inside the implant, to determine how, where and when electricity is delivered to cells.
The implant materials are also biodegradable, acting like a scaffold that supports tissue regeneration before gradually dissolving.
Spinal cord injury is a life-altering condition that can lead to paralysis, loss of sensation and chronic pain. There are more than 2,300 people living with spinal cord injury in Ireland and no treatment exists to effectively repair the damage.
Worldwide, the impact of spinal cord injuries is huge, said McCarthy, with 200,000 new cases each year in the USA alone.
The poor prognosis McCarthy received after his injury shifted when he regained some movement. The injury was then classified as incomplete and provided a glimmer of hope.
After extensive period of rehabilitation, he returned home to an adapted house, and an adapted car which he drove to work.
Like many patients with spinal cord injuries, McCarthy lives with sharp, persistent pain.
He got involved in research through the IRFU Charitable Trust – which supports 36 players in Ireland living with spinal cord injury and helped integrate them into the scientific research process.
McCarthy became a 'patient public involvement researcher' offering his views as a patient to the scientists. One view he conveyed was that some patients were more concerned about getting benefits to their daily quality of life than with walking again.
Approaching 60, McCarthy said he is 'convinced' scientists will completely solve the spinal cord injury problem in his lifetime. 'I expect to be alive when the clinical breakthrough occurs,' he said.
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