Parkinson’s patient now able to walk again, thanks to experimental spinal cord implant

For Marc Gauthier, everyday activities were a challenge. Having to endure Parkinson’s disease for nearly three decades, taking just a step forward seemed a bigger task for the 63-year-old Frenchman from Bordeaux as one could imagine.

But now he is able to walk for several kilometres without falling over and can perform everyday tasks like any other human being.

It’s all thanks to a special implant that stimulates nerves in his spine.

“Walking in a store would be really difficult, impossible before, because of the freezing of gait that would often happen in those environments. And now, it just doesn’t happen anymore. I don’t have freezing anymore,” Gauthier, who lives near Bordeaux, France, said in a news briefing, speaking in French that was translated to English.

Gauthier is the first person with advanced Parkinson’s to be fitted with experimental spinal cord neuroprosthesis to correct walking disorders.

Step by step, he said, it has helped him get his stride back.

The study, which details how the neuroprosthesis works by targeting specific areas of the spinal cord with electrical stimulation, was published on Monday in Nature Medicine journal.

“Addressing deficits of gait and balance in Parkinson’s disease is extremely challenging. These deficits can be very heterogenous. They can be variable across patients. They can affect walking but also symmetry, balance, posture,” Dr Eduardo Moraud, an author of the study and researcher at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland, said during the news briefing.

“The neuroprosthetic approach that we have developed here allows for the first time to target and address these problems individually in a highly specific manner for each patient,” Moraud said.

“It operates in real time, and importantly, it is complementary to other existing therapies.”

How it works?

The device is wired to a small impulse generator with its own power supply, and implanted under the skin of Marc's abdomen.

After surgery to fit the device, Marc had weeks of rehabilitation to programme it, using feedback sensors on his legs and shoes.

Neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch, who implanted Marc's devicearound two years ago, said the technology and procedure were similar to that which had helped some spinal-injury patients for many years.

"It is impressive to see how by electrically stimulating the spinal cord in a targeted manner, in the same way as we have done with paraplegic patients, we can correct walking disorders caused by Parkinson's disease," she said, according to BBC.

(With inputs from agencies)