After being paralyzed for years due to a knife attack, a Bulgarian man underwent what many are calling a "miracle surgery" and is now able to walk again with the help of frame. This breakthrough came after cells from his nose were transplanted into his spinal cord, effectively creating a "bridge" across the site of the injury so that the damaged nerve cells could regrow across the scar tissue formation.
After sustaining multiple stab wounds to his back four years ago, 40-year-old Darek Fidyka was a quadriplegic who was paralyzed from the chest down. Now, Fidyka has regained a fraction of his voluntary movement and is reporting the return of some sensation in his legs. Doctors are reporting that his condition continues to improve, and that the results are better than previously predicted. In fact, Mr. Fidyka is now able to drive and has been living more independently.
This medical breakthrough has brought hope to more than 3 million people around the world whose lives are affected by spinal injury. However, doctors are saying that the procedure may have also become successful due partly to the fact that the patient's injury was "clean cut" and, as such, they are unsure if the same procedure will produce the same results for patients who have more complex injuries.
In 1969, Prof. Geoffrey Raisman from the Institute of Neurology from the University College London discovered that nerve cells that sustained damages have the ability to reform connections. In 1985, he was able to identify a special type of cell within the nose, called the olfactory ensheathing cell or OEC, that allowed nerve fibers to regenerate. Based on this principle, Prof. Raisman worked in cooperation with Polish professor Pawel Tabakow from the Wroclaw Medical University to perform the surgery on Fidyka and several other paraplegic patients. In 2013, the team reported that the patients who received the OEC transplants were showing significant "neurological improvement."