The spinal cord is the nerve of highway that connects the brain to the body. A car accident or a bad fall can partially or completely sever the spinal cord and paralyze the person below the injury site. In the US, more than 10,000 people are injured spinal cord each year, but the treatment of these lesions is mainly based on intensive rehabilitation usually providing modest improvements. Many experimental therapies are being tested on animals and in some patients in Phase I clinical trials. These include stem cell transplantation, the administration of growth factors or antibodies directed against growth inhibitors, electrostimulation of the injury site of the spinal cord and deep brain stimulation of brain centers controlling the movement. None of these experimental treatments have been approved for the treatment of patients with spinal cord injury, and many questions remain unanswered. Where and how should be delivered treatments? If the combinations of these treatments are used in conjunction with an extensive refurbishment? And how soon will these therapies available in the clinic?
Please join Science Translational Medicine and special guests neurosurgeon Michael Fehlings, president of neural repair and regeneration at University Health Network in Toronto, Canada, and researcher Martin Schwab co-director of the Brain Research Institute at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, Thursday, October 24, at 15 pm EDT on this page for our first live video chat. We will discuss the many barriers to treatment for spinal cord and take your questions, so please be sure to let your requests for our customers in the comment box below.
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