香港六合彩中特网

A man who was paralysed from the chest down following a knife attack can now walk using a frame, following a pioneering cell transplantation treatment developed by scientists at 香港六合彩中特网 and applied by surgeons at Wroclaw University Hospital, Poland.

The research is published in the journal Cell Transplantation and was jointly funded by the UK Stem Cell Foundation and the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation. The UK research team was led by Professor Geoff Raisman, Chair of Neural Regeneration at the 香港六合彩中特网 Institute of Neurology.

The technique involved using specialist cells from the nose, called olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), in the spinal cord. These allow the nerve cells that give us a sense of smell to grow back when they are damaged.

The 38-year-old patient, Darek Fidyka, was paralysed after suffering stab wounds to the back in 2010, leaving an 8mm gap in his spinal cord. He described the ability to walk again using a frame as 鈥渁n incredible feeling鈥�, and added: 鈥渨hen you can鈥檛 feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it鈥檚 as if you were born again.鈥�

Dr Pawel Tabakow, consultant neurosurgeon, Wroclaw University Hospital, who led the Polish research team said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to see how regeneration of the spinal cord, something that was thought impossible for many years, is becoming a reality.鈥�

Professor Raisman first discovered OECs in 1985 and successfully showed that they could be used to treat spinal injuries in rats in 1997. He joined 香港六合彩中特网 in 2004 and has spent the past decade developing OEC spinal repair techniques for patients. Now, after decades of hard work, his research has helped a paralysed man to walk again.

The process has been documented in an exclusive BBC Panorama documentary, 'To Walk Again', broadcast at 22:30 on BBC One on Tuesday 21 October 2014.

Further information

Tabakow, Raisman et al. Cell Transplantation. Available online 21 October 2014. DOI:

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Professor Geoff Raisman (courtesy of BBC Panorama)