It is signed by the neurosurgeons of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan who performed the innovative procedure that enabled a young woman with lower-limb paralysis to recover motor functions through the implantation of a bone marrow neurostimulator. The 32-year-old lady, who was involved in a sports accident that resulted in a spinal cord damage, is now able to walk with the use of a walker. The outcome was made feasible by cooperation with a group of engineers from La Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa's Institute of Biorobotics. The patient is still through a complicated rehabilitation program with outstanding outcomes. The implanted device is made up of two parts: a biocompatible support for 32 electrodes that is placed into the epidural area of the spine, and a pulse generator (similar to a pacemaker) that is inserted under the skin at the hip level. The impulses are sent to the spinal cord and subsequently to the nerves and muscles. The gadget was implanted in roughly 3 hours by a careful minimally invasive neurosurgery technique under continuous neurophysiological monitoring. The pacemaker was then set to enable synchronized activation of all walking muscles. Controlling the stimulator's activities is feasible owing to a set of functional alternatives that the patient may choose based on his or her daily locomotor demands.
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