Surgeons Implant Neuro-Spinal Scaffold In Ninth Patient In InVivo INSPIRE Study For Spinal Cord Injury Patients At Vidant Medical Center | Eastern NC Now

    GREENVILLE     Vidant Medical Center (VMC) is one of 22 hospitals in the United States and Canada selected as a clinical site for the InVivo Therapeutics INSPIRE Study: InVivo Study of Probable Benefit of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for Safety and Neurologic Recovery in Subjects with Complete Thoracic AIS A Spinal Cord Injury.

    Experts explain that there are many inclusion and exclusion criteria for the trial, among which a patient must have a complete thoracic spinal cord injury - no motor or sensory function below the level of spinal cord injury. The patient must also have an identifiable spinal cord contusion or bruise in the spinal cord on a MRI and sustained the injury 96 hours or less before the operation.

    To date there have been 10 patients enrolled in the trial. The ninth patient in the study, Anthony Williams, 37, had a Neuro-Spinal Scaffold implanted, on May 26, following an 18-wheeler accident in which the tractor-trailer overturned, fracturing his T4 or fourth thoracic vertebra with severe spinal cord compression.

    The implantation was performed by Vidant Medical Group (VMG) neurosurgeons Dr. Stuart Lee, the principal investigator, and Dr. Hilal Kanaan, co-investigator, approximately 40 hours after the injury occurred. "The implantation procedure went smoothly and the patient is doing well," Lee said. "We are excited to be a part of the INSPIRE study and look forward to following the patient's progress."

    Lee explains that generally in these types of injuries, surgeons place hardware to stabilize the bony spine injury. In this trial, along with placing the hardware, surgeons perform a decompressive laminectomy - removal of the bones on the back of the spine - at the level of the injury. They then open the dura - the covering of the spinal cord - and make an incision called a myelotomy into the spinal cord using the operating microscope. The bruised tissue comes out spontaneously under pressure, creating a small cavity in the spinal cord. The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold is placed into this cavity. Lee explains that the thought is the spinal scaffold, which is made of proteins that have been shown to promote neural recovery, helps with healing of the spinal cord and without it, there is just a cavity hole in the cord after all the contusion material is reabsorbed by the body.

    Williams said that he is very glad he made the decision to be a part of the trial. "With an injury like mine, I had nothing to lose," he said. "I feel really special, because employees and students are learning from my injury." Williams has a positive attitude, which he says makes all the difference in his recovery. "If you don't have a positive mind, you're never going to heal. I hope to one day be able to walk again and use my story to help others in similar situations." Williams is recovering at the Rehabilitation Center at VMC before returning to his home in Florida.

    For more information please visit the company's ClinicalTrials.gov registration site: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02138110

• Contact: Amy Holcombe
•     amy.holcombe@vidanthealth.com