Expectations need to be managed around spinal surgery

The news that a transplant of nerve cells has allowed a man to walk again represents a major breakthrough in the treatment of spinal cord injuries.

However, it is right that a degree of caution is exercised as it does not mean that every person with a complete break in their spinal cord will now be able to walk again. The person who was successfully operated on in this case sustained his spinal cord injury as a result of a knife wound which meant that the break in his spinal cord was relatively small. Of course, spinal cord injuries can arise in a variety of ways including car accidents and falls from height where the spinal cord tends to be crushed or bruised or where there is a loss of blood flow to the cord rather than from the actual cutting of the cord itself.

There is still a long way to go before it will be possible to say that there is now a cure for paralysis but this discovery very much represents the first step towards that goal.

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