After the first spectacular success, a team of scientists from Wrocław launched an international recruitment of patients.
Doctors from the University Clinical Hospital (USK) in Wrocław have started recruiting patients for subsequent reconstruction surgeries of the severed spinal cord. Dariusz Fidyka was the first in the world to undergo such a procedure, and he is already taking steps on his own.
Dr. Paweł Tabakow, the head of the project “Wrocław Walk Again” and the doctor of the USK neurosurgery clinic, said at the press conference on Tuesday that patients from all over the world can apply for the project, but only through the website walk-again-project.org.
«We will select up to two patients with confirmed excisional spinal cord injury. These are very rare cases. The website describes the detailed conditions for inclusion in the program, but there are also exclusions that prevent participation in the program, ”said Tabakov.
He added that they exclude from the possibility of participating in the program, inter alia, severe disease, cardiovascular disease, symptoms of muscle wasting, and participation in another medical experiment.
«Our patient will be subjected to intensive rehabilitation, then two operations, the first of which is the collection of glial cells from the olfactory bulb in the brain, and the second is the reconstruction of the cut spinal cord with these cells. Then again, at least two years of rehabilitation here in Wrocław »- said Tabakow.
The project manager emphasized that he expects to select a group of patients within a few months who will be invited to additional research in Poland. After this research, two people will be finally selected for the program. A reserve list will also be drawn up.
As reported, the program is entirely financed by foreign funds by the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation (NSIF), and about 250 were allocated to one patient. British pounds.
Dr. Tabakow emphasized that the project “Wrocław Walk Again” is still a medical experiment aimed at confirming the hypotheses resulting from the first surgery carried out in 2012.
«After this procedure, the hypothesis seems to be correct that glial cells taken directly from the olfactory bulb in the brain regenerate the severed spinal cord better. Everything will be done with the safety of patients. And although we have proposals for cooperation with several neurosurgical centers in the world, we also have this sense of responsibility that we cannot share knowledge that is not fully proven yet »- said Tabakov.
In 2012, the team led by prof. Włodzimierz Jarmundowicz and Dr. Paweł Tabakowa, performed the world’s first glial cell implantation into a severed spinal cord at the Clinical Hospital in Wrocław.
It consisted of a precise injection of them on both sides of the severed spinal cord. Using a special, computer-controlled device, 96 microinjections were made at four different core depths.
The first positive symptoms appeared after four months, when “the patient noticed a feeling in the buttocks”, which was impossible before, after breaking the spine at the level of the chest.
After 18 months, the patient took his first steps with the help of orthopedic equipment.
35 months after the operation, 43-year-old patient Dariusz Fidyka is able to walk at a speed of several centimeters per second and rides a tricycle in the park.