Procedure Allows Paralyzed Actor to Breathe Without Respirator

An experimental procedure whereby electrodes were implanted into the diaphragm of Christopher Reeve, the actor paralyzed by a fall and on a respirator for the last eight years, has allowed him to breathe without the respirator for more than two hours.

The doctors who performed the procedure, called diaphragm pacing via laparoscopy, say it may enable Mr. Reeve to wean himself from the respirator permanently as the muscles in his diaphragm grow stronger over the next few months. The experimental procedure has the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used in 35 patients.

Mr. Reeve's phrenic nerves, which control breathing and extend from the spinal cord to the diaphragm, were not injured in his fall. However, because these nerves meet the spinal cord below the injury site, they could not receive signals from the brain stem, which initiates breathing. Doctors realized that artificial activation of these nerves might restore natural breathing.

In the new technique, wires extend from a control box outside the body to the implanted electrodes on the diaphragm. When current stimulates the electrodes, the diaphragm contracts, sucking air into the lungs. When stimulations stops, the diaphragm relaxes and the air moves out of the lungs. A signal is sent from the control box to the electrodes 12 times a minute, which approximates normal breathing rate. The procedure was performed by doctors at the Cleveland Clinic (OH, USA).




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