Successful mating of nerves from mother to child

Johns Hopkins Hospital (USA) has just completed a rare surgery: a nerve transplant from mother to son in the hope of restoring the left arm of a child who has suffered a serious injury after a serious accident .

The surgery lasts 6 hours as planned. "The first sign of success may appear in three months and after about a year will know whether the boy can reuse the empty arm," said the representative of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Eric Vohr.

Neurosurgeon Michael Dorsi (left) and Allan Belzberg are implanting nerves for Anderson.

The left arm of boy Nick Anderson, 19, suffered a serious injury in a terrible accident in December 2004. Anderson also lost a section of his left leg under the knee. The injured arm has no elbow joint, and 2 of the 3 main nerves that make the arm become useless.

So far, the donation of nerves from living people is rare. In some cases, the graft can be taken from another part of the body, but in Anderson's shift, the loss of the footprint means that there is no longer enough nerve to use, Dr. Allan Belzberg, the direct person surgery said

Anderson's mother, Frankie Anderson, now 40 years old, had surgery to remove nerve sections from each arm and leg on Tuesday, and she is now resuscitating with permanent cold numbness spots. in the elbows and soles of the feet.

Two years ago, young Anderson had a brain tumor and was taken away. According to Belzberg, this may be a problem, because the use of anti-rejection drugs for this transplant will affect the body's ability to fight recurrent tumors.

However, Belzberg predicts that Anderson will not have to take anti-rejection drugs permanently because the donor nerves will only be valid until his own neuronal cells grow and encase the cells. Nerves. When the anti-rejection drug is stopped, the patient's body will self-excrete the nerve cells that come out.

My Linh (according to AP)