Posted on 11/20/2012 11:34:07 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Scientists have helped dogs to walk again after severe spinal injuries - offering hope for paralyzed human patients.
Movement was restored to the dogs' hind legs by bridging breaks in the spinal cord using olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) taken from their noses.
The cells support nerve fibre growth that maintains a communication pathway between the nose and the brain.
One previously crippled dachshund, Jasper, was described by its owner as "whizzing around the house" after undergoing the treatment.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
They’ll be chasing cars again in no time...
Awesome video.
Awesome video.
"One previously crippled dachshund, Jasper, was described by its owner as 'whizzing around the house' after undergoing the treatment."
My dachshunds were apt to be 'whizzing around the house' normally. :-/
If it works on humans, they’ll be adding noses to organ banks!
:I’m on the waiting list for a nose.”
Very cool approach. I’m very impressed by the research, creativity, and the fact that the researchers didn’t overstate the results. These are the kinds of people who deserve funding.
Nice that the dog had that "Little Engine that Could" personality.
Very impressive medical jump...and you didn't have to kill a baby either.
That is a remarkable video. I will take this opportunity to brag on my daughter who recently received her Ph.D. in neuroscience and is currently doing postdoctoral research in spinal cord injuries.
I had to carry him outside and place him by his favorite tree so he could do his business. I learned that the hospital performed lamenectomys so I made an appointment to take him for surgery. It was only a couple of hours from where I lived at the time.
The hardest thing for me was I had to leave him for a couple of days. The surgery was successful. The doctors removed every grain of the disc they could find and fused one or two vertabrae.
The sewed him up and he looked just like a football. I didn't know weather to laugh or cry when I went to pick him up, so I did both.
After a careful recovery period, my puppy was better than new and lived a happy life for years. He was killed by a car. He was 14 years old and will always be missed.
Congrats to you and your daughter. I know you must very proud.
I had a long haired dachshund that had back surgery. I had to “tail walk” him for 2-3 weeks. He was 12 years old when he went into surgery and they told me that for a “fat dachshund” he did very well.
His last years he was still skipping up steps. I sure do miss him, best dog ever!
Amazing miracles that God gives us!
Imagine what Cyrano De Bergerac would have accomplished?
LOLOLOLOL!
My first Golden Retriever (Terra) slipped down a wet hill chasing a ball in our back yard and popped a disc when she was only 5. She was paralyzed and in great pain. We rushed her to the Vet where she was injected with steroids and transferred to the UWVet Hospital in Madison the following morning. THey were planning to cut a piece of bone out of her vertebra so that the spinal cord would not be constricted if it swelled. But, the steroids did the trick, and the spinal cord was not further injured. They sent her home ofter a week, and she recovered, although her gait was always a little stiff.
A year later, the orthopedic hospital here announced a great discovery first tried on dogs — inject steroids into the spinal cords of injured victims within an hour of the injury to avoid paralysis. But, the newspaper said, “We don’t know, yet, the side effects on humans.” I immediately recognized the technique and I said, “The side efffects will be that the patient will become voraciously hungry, short tempered, and will lose all his/her hair.”
Terra lived until she was 15 1/2 — we got another 10 1/2 years out of her. May she R.I.P.
My dog was barfing around the house a while back because he ate a half pound of brown sugar.
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