A man with advanced Parkinson’s disease has almost completely recovered his ability to walk, thanks to electrodes implanted in his spinal cord, a group of researchers reported on Monday (6).
The medical feat could be a “revolutionary” technology for people who struggle to move despite this debilitating brain disorder.
The treatment was developed by Swiss researchers who had previously used spinal cord implants to help several people with paraplegia walk again.
The patient, Marc, a 62-year-old man living in France, has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for approximately 30 years. Like more than 90% of people with advanced Parkinson’s, Marc has great difficulty walking.
So-called “freezing” episodes, during which patients are temporarily unable to move, exposing them to the risk of falls, are particularly “terrible”, Marc told AFP.
“If you have an obstacle or if someone walks in front of you, unexpectedly, you start to ‘freeze’ and fall,” said Marc, who did not want to reveal his last name.
Many aspects of Parkinson’s disease are still unknown, and treating these symptoms has proven difficult. They can seriously affect patients’ lives, sometimes leaving them bedridden or confined to a wheelchair.
So, when the opportunity arose to undergo invasive surgery in Switzerland with the aim of resolving the problem, Marc did not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity.
– ‘I can do whatever I want’ –
“Now I can walk from one point to another without worrying about how I will get there,” he said.
“I can go for a walk, go shopping alone. I can do whatever I want,” she added.
The Swiss team of researchers implanted a complex system of electrodes called a “neuroprosthesis” at key points along Marc’s spinal cord.
“We developed a neuroprosthesis that reduced gait problems, balance problems and freezing of gait,” said the team led by surgeon Jocelyne Bloch and neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine.
The two had already made a breakthrough using spinal cord implants that allowed paraplegic patients to walk again.
The most recent research, published in the journal Nature Medicine, worked, according to much the same principle.
In the case of paralyzed patients, the trauma comes from an accident, which cuts off communication between the brain and spinal cord. For Marc and other Parkinson’s patients, this communication still exists, but the brain signal is affected by the progressive disappearance of the neurons that generate dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter.
In this case, the neuroprosthesis had to do more than simply send an electrical stimulus that provoked movement. He also had to assume the role of the brain in generating this stimulus at the appropriate time so that the resulting movement corresponded to the patient’s desires.
“The idea is to measure residual movements, that is, the intention to walk, with small sensors that are on the legs,” Courtine told AFP.
“Thanks to this, we know whether the person wants to swing, or stop, and we can adjust the stimulus accordingly,” said Courtine, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
– ‘A major potential breakthrough’ –
The neuroprosthesis was first tested in primates and then implanted in Marc, who has worn it approximately eight hours a day for almost two years.
Marc said he can now walk much more easily and is even planning a trip to Brazil. Still, he added, the effort requires concentration, especially when climbing stairs.
But to what extent can this implant help the many other Parkinson’s patients who struggle to walk every day? The disease affects patients in different ways.
The Swiss team expanded their experiment to a group of six Parkinson’s patients.
The invasive implant is quite expensive, which limits access for many patients.
Bloch and Courtine launched a “startup” called Onward to investigate its future commercialization. But even getting to this point represents “a huge potential breakthrough”, according to David Dexter, director of research at Parkinson’s UK.
“This is a very invasive procedure, but it could be a revolutionary technology to help restore movement in people with advanced Parkinson’s,” said Dexter, emphasizing that more research is needed.
