Marc Gauthier can now step into an elevator without his body stiffening and freezing in place. He can take a 3-mile lakeside stroll without stopping. He can stand up out of a chair with ease. For Gauthier, 63, who has been living with Parkinson’s disease for almost three decades, these everyday activities were a challenge — until now.
“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.
In a new study, Gauthier was surgically implanted with an experimental spinal cord neuroprosthesis to correct walking disorders in people with Parkinson’s disease. Step by step, he said, it has helped him get his stride back.
CNN
The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, details how the neuroprosthesis works by targeting specific areas of the spinal cord with electrical stimulation that are associated with walking.
“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.”
Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative brain disorder, causes parts of the brain to deteriorate. Symptoms related to walking occur when the nerve cells in the brain’s basal ganglia area, which controls movement, become impaired or die. These nerve cells normally produce dopamine but, when they die or become impaired, the lack of dopamine often impacts a person’s ability to move, walk or balance. About 90% of people with the disease experience locomotor deficits. While there is currently no cure for Parkinson’s disease, some therapies — such as deep brain stimulation or medications to increase dopamine levels — may relieve symptoms.