Johns Hopkins Hospital (USA) has recently completed a rare surgery: a nerve graft from mother to son with the hope of restoring the left arm of the son, which was severely injured in a serious accident.
The surgery lasted 6 hours as planned. “The first signs of success may appear in 3 months, and after about a year, we will know if the boy will be able to use his arm again,” said Eric Vohr, a representative of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
 |
Neurosurgeons Michael Dorsi (left) and Allan Belzberg are performing the nerve graft for Anderson. |
The left arm of 19-year-old Nick Anderson was severely injured in a horrific accident in December 2004. Anderson also lost a portion of his left leg below the knee. The injured arm no longer had an elbow joint, and 2 out of 3 main nerves controlling the arm had become useless.
Until now, nerve donations from living individuals have been extremely rare. In some cases, graft tissue can be taken from another part of the body, but in Anderson’s case, the loss of his leg meant that there were not enough nerves left to use, said Dr. Allan Belzberg, who performed the surgery.
Anderson’s mother, Frankie Anderson, now 40 years old, underwent surgery to have nerve segments removed from each arm and leg on Tuesday, and she is currently recovering with permanent cold nerve blocks at both elbows and the top of her foot.
Two years ago, Anderson had a brain tumor that was surgically removed. According to Belzberg, this could pose a challenge, as the immunosuppressive medications necessary for the grafting procedure will affect the body’s ability to combat tumor recurrence.
However, Belzberg predicts that Anderson will not have to take immunosuppressive drugs permanently because the donated nerves will only be functional until the boy’s own nerve cells grow and encapsulate the donated nerve cells. Once the use of immunosuppressants is discontinued, the patient’s body will naturally reject the donated nerve cells.
Mỹ Linh (according to AP)
