In a first, paralysed man with severed spine can walk with implant developed by Swiss researchers

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In a major medical breakthrough, a paralysed man with a severed spinal cord has been able to walk again, with an implant developed by a team of Swiss researchers.</p>
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It is the first time someone who has had a complete cut to their spinal cord has been able to walk freely again.</p>
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The research has been published in the journal Nature Medicine.</p>
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Michel Roccati was paralysed after a motorbike accident five years ago. His spinal cord was completely severed – and he has no feeling at all in his legs.</p>
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But he can now walk – because of an electrical implant that has been surgically attached to his spine.</p>
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"I stand up, walk where I want to, I can walk the stairs – it's almost a normal life," BBC quoted Roccati as saying.</p>
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The implant sends electrical pulses to his muscles, mimicking the action of the brain, and could one day help people with severe spinal injuries stand, walk and exercise.</p>
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He was one of three patients involved in the study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, all of them unable to move their lower bodies after accidents.</p>
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The three were able to take steps shortly after the six-centimetre implant was inserted and its pulses were fine-tuned.</p>
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Those initial steps were difficult and required support bars and significant upper body strength.</p>
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But the patients could start rehabilitation immediately, and within four months Roccati could walk with only a frame for balance.</p>
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"These electrodes were longer and larger than the ones we had previously implanted, and we could access more muscles thanks to this new technology," said Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon at the Lausanne University Hospital who led the trial.</p>
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"It's not that it's a miracle right away,” said Gregoire Courtine, a neuroscientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology who led the research with Bloch.</p>
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But with practice, Roccati can now stand for several hours and walk nearly a kilometre. The Italian described being able to look clients in the eye, have a drink at a standing table and take a shower standing up thanks to the implant.</p>
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He and others in the trial were also able to climb stairs and swim and canoe.</p>
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The improvements depend on the electrical stimulation, which is triggered via a computer carried by the patient that activates a pattern of pulses.</p>
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The three men in the new trial were all injured a year or more before the implant and Bloch hopes to try the technology sooner after an accident. She expects the treatment to be more effective in such cases.</p>
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The team cautioned that significant work remains before the implant is available for treatment outside clinical studies, but said they receive around five messages a day from patients seeking help.</p>
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They plan to reduce the size of the computer controlling the pulses so it can be implanted in patients and controlled with a smartphone. This is expected to happen this year.</p>
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They also plan to carry out large-scale trials involving 50-100 patients in the United States and then Europe.</p>