New hardware helps spinal cord injured to breathe
Insciences.org has a story about a device that can control the diaphragm in both the number of compressions and the strength of each push. This device is now allowing patients in Austria to breathe on their own since their initial accidents forced them to use a ventilator to stay alive. Using rehabilitation techniques to strengthen muscles that have been damaged by an accident. this device is used for small amounts of time as the patient gets used to breathing on their own. After rehab patients are able to breathe on their own with the help of this system for 12 to 16 hours a day. This allows patients to live a more normal life and allow them to go back to work. This also helps to reduce the chance of fluid filling the lungs after a bout with the flu.
Any device that allows the disabled to get out of their home and do things they did before the accident is a genuine breakthrough. The article did not say if this device is available in the US or Canada, but if the European Union has put their stamp on it, there is a good chance it will make it across the pond soon. For those that are on respirators should definitely call their doctors and find out of they are a good candidate for this procedure. If so it will greatly increase their quality of life because they can breathe on their own, and allow them to get a better night sleep and get out more without having to drag a ventilator.
It will be interesting to see if this device can eventually be removed as the diaphragm becomes stronger in some of the less injured patients. However, if the stem cells reported yesterday allow more control over breathing, then this device can be used with stem cells to get the patient breathing completely on their own. This can dramatically decrease the cost of medical care for spinal cord victims and reduce the number of times they have to come to the hospital because of respiratory infections.
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