A team of doctors and researchers from the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan and of bioengineers from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa, has obtained promising results in the treatment of spinal cord injuries, thanks to an innovative protocol based on high-frequency, epidural electric stimulation. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, has shown that this technique significantly reduces muscle spasticity and improves motor functions in patients with spinal cord injury.
The research has focused on two patients with incomplete spinal cord injuries that during 2023 had recovered their motor skills. This was possible thanks to the implantation of the spinal cord neurostimulator, a device already used in pain therapy. Researchers have applied targeted, high-frequency stimulations that, together with specific rehabilitation programs, have significantly improved muscular strength, walking ability and motor control of the patients. The applied stimulation protocol has also reduced the pathological reflexes and the involuntary contractions at the basis of muscular spasticity, thus promoting more fluid and natural movements.
Central nervous system diseases, such as traumatic spinal cord injuries that interrupt communication with the brain can cause difficulty in walking, limb paralysis as well as muscle spasticity— that is, the intermittent or sustained activation of muscle contraction leading to involuntary muscular stiffness and spasms. Muscle spasticity significantly reduces motor functions, and affects nearly 70% of patients with spinal cord injury. Recent studies have shown that applying an electrical stimulation to an injured spinal cord is a promising strategy for restoring the ability to walk. Low-frequency stimulation protocols are currently applied to mitigate spasticity, but they have a limited effect in patients suffering from muscle spasms.
The study
The two patients examined in the current study had a traumatic spinal cord injury: in 2023, they had received an innovative implantation of the spinal cord electrostimulator that, after a long period of rehabilitation at the Unit directed by Dr. Sandro Iannaccone, has enabled the recovery of their walking ability. Both patients have shown significant improvements in their functional abilities, and one of them has also walked for 175 meters without active stimulation.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adp9607#tab-contributors
