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Boy expected to be paralysed able to walk after ground-breaking surgery
A prenatal stem-cell repair using placenta-derived cells enabled a child expected to be paralysed to walk, with six babies treated in the first clinical trial.
- Three-Year-Old patient is walking after surgery performed in utero, with his father noting he is the second human to undergo this repair.
- An ultrasound at 20 weeks showed myelomeningocele, the most severe form of spina bifida, and around 25 weeks surgeons opened the mother's abdomen and womb to place a patch over the exposed spinal cord to allow tissue to regenerate.
- The Lancet published the trial results showing trial babies were born healthy with no side effects, and Dr Diana Farmer said she was `cautiously optimistic` after Robbie moved at birth.
- Researchers have started a larger clinical trial and will monitor children from trial pregnancies over several years, while US surgical researchers hope the approach will improve walking and potty training compared with prior study finding about walking outcomes.
- Given how spinal tissue can fail to seal in early pregnancy, long-term results matter because Tobi's parents said they feared he would be wheelchair-bound and called his recovery `nothing short of a miracle`.
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Great Yorkshire Radio
Great Yorkshire Radio'Miracle' boy expected to be paralysed due to spina bifida able to walk after ground-breaking surgery in the womb
Tobi Maginnis, who had a condition in which the spinal cord fails to develop properly, underwent pioneering stem cell surgery as part of a world-first clinical trial.
·United Kingdom
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Stem cell patch reverses brain damage in fetuses with spina bifida
The congenital condition spina bifida is often treated surgically in the womb, but many children still go on to have mobility issues. The addition of a patch made up of stem cells from donated placentas could improve their long-term outcomes
·Baltimore, United States
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Total News Sources4
Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Center
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
67% Center
L 33%
C 67%
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