Swiss-designed Technology Helps Parkinson's Patient Walk Again
2023-11-11
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1Marc Gauthier has Parkinson's disease.
2The disease affects his nervous system, weakens his muscles and causes his arms and legs to shake.
3The 63-year-old Gauthier had not been able to leave his home for some time.
4But that was until he became the first person to receive a new Swiss-designed medical device that greatly improved his ability to walk.
5Gauthier received a medical device called a neuroprosthetic at Switzerland's Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV).
6Part of the device, called an electrode field, is placed against part of the nervous system which runs in the back called the spinal cord.
7Another part of the device, found under his skin below the stomach, uses electricity to stimulate the spinal cord to start up his leg muscles.
8It is called an electrical impulse generator.
9"It changed my life because I'm now independent," said Gauthier, a native of the French city of Bordeaux, as he sat with his doctors at CHUV.
10"I can leave my home, run errands. I even go on foot."
11The number of people affected by Parkinson's disease has doubled over the past 25 years, the World Health Organization found.
12Worldwide estimates showed that more than 8.5 million people suffered from the disease in 2019.
13Grégoire Courtine is one of the doctors leading the project.
14He said the electrical pulses delivered to Gauthier's spinal cord has permitted him to walk the way he would have without the disease.
15"We strongly believe that many individuals could benefit from this therapy," said Courtine.
16He is a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), the University of Lausanne and CHUV.
17The study was published in Nature Medicine recently.
18The findings by Courtine's team at the NeuroRestore research center suggest the technology could be used more widely in patients with more progressed Parkinson's.
19Many of those with more progressed, or advanced, Parkinson's have severe problems with being able to move.
20Dave Marver is chief executive officer of Onward Medical, which designed the medical device.
21He said that the device was similar to another device called an implantable defibrillator and those used to deal with pain.
22But he added the device is special in the way that it targets the spinal cord.
23"For the health care system, it will look and feel familiar, but it will offer therapy that doesn't exist today," he said.
24Courtine's team plans to carry out continuing researching and test the device on six new patients next year.
25Jocelyne Bloch is the doctor who performed the operation on Gauthier and co-director of NeuroRestore.
26She said with this therapy, if people can gain belief in themselves and can go out, socialize and do more things, it is a big plus "... in their daily activities and quality of life."
27I'm Gregory Stachel.
1Marc Gauthier has Parkinson's disease. 2The disease affects his nervous system, weakens his muscles and causes his arms and legs to shake. 3The 63-year-old Gauthier had not been able to leave his home for some time. But that was until he became the first person to receive a new Swiss-designed medical device that greatly improved his ability to walk. 4Gauthier received a medical device called a neuroprosthetic at Switzerland's Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV). Part of the device, called an electrode field, is placed against part of the nervous system which runs in the back called the spinal cord. Another part of the device, found under his skin below the stomach, uses electricity to stimulate the spinal cord to start up his leg muscles. It is called an electrical impulse generator. 5"It changed my life because I'm now independent," said Gauthier, a native of the French city of Bordeaux, as he sat with his doctors at CHUV. "I can leave my home, run errands. I even go on foot." 6The number of people affected by Parkinson's disease has doubled over the past 25 years, the World Health Organization found. Worldwide estimates showed that more than 8.5 million people suffered from the disease in 2019. 7Grégoire Courtine is one of the doctors leading the project. He said the electrical pulses delivered to Gauthier's spinal cord has permitted him to walk the way he would have without the disease. 8"We strongly believe that many individuals could benefit from this therapy," said Courtine. He is a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), the University of Lausanne and CHUV. 9The study was published in Nature Medicine recently. The findings by Courtine's team at the NeuroRestore research center suggest the technology could be used more widely in patients with more progressed Parkinson's. Many of those with more progressed, or advanced, Parkinson's have severe problems with being able to move. 10Dave Marver is chief executive officer of Onward Medical, which designed the medical device. He said that the device was similar to another device called an implantable defibrillator and those used to deal with pain. But he added the device is special in the way that it targets the spinal cord. 11"For the health care system, it will look and feel familiar, but it will offer therapy that doesn't exist today," he said. 12Courtine's team plans to carry out continuing researching and test the device on six new patients next year. 13Jocelyne Bloch is the doctor who performed the operation on Gauthier and co-director of NeuroRestore. She said with this therapy, if people can gain belief in themselves and can go out, socialize and do more things, it is a big plus "... in their daily activities and quality of life." 14I'm Gregory Stachel. 15Cecile Mantovani and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted the story for VOA Learning English. 16______________________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18nervous system - n. the system of nerves in your body that sends messages for controlling movement and feeling between the brain and the other parts of the body 19stimulate - v. to make (something) more active 20errand - n. a short journey that you take to do or get something 21pulses - n. a brief increase in an amount of electricity, light, or sound 22therapy - n. the treatment of physical or mental illnesses 23familiar - adj. frequently seen, heard, or experienced