Writer Talk about a spine-tingling sensation.
Yesterday at the Engineering Tissue Growth International Conference and Exposition, a spinal cord researcher shared exciting preliminary findings from an experimental technique that uses immune cells to repair severed spinal cords. Although their injuries should have made them permanently paralyzed and numb, three patients who received the therapy have begun to feel light touches and pin pricks. Two can now voluntarily twitch some muscles. If the results hold up, it could be the first case of a therapy that can restore sensation and function to people with severe spinal cord injuries. Proneuron says there are 12,000 spinal cord injuries in the United States each year.