New hope for spinal cord injury victims

First breathing pacemaker comes to Israel.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
top health generic new 248.88 (photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
top health generic new 248.88
(photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
The first breathing pacemaker of its kind that regulates the pace of respiration in victims of spinal cord damage has been implanted in Israel.
Yedidya Knopf, a 22-year-old resident of Jerusalem’s Alyn Rehabilitation Hospital who was seriously injured in a road accident nine years ago, was operated on a month ago at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem. On Wednesday, the device was turned on for the first time, and Knopf is breathing well without being hooked up to a respirator.
The operation was guided by Dr. Mark Ginsburg of Columbia University Medical Center in New York. He has so far implanted 60 of this type of “artificial diaphragm,” which can replace a respirator. Ginsburg gave a lecture on the innovative procedure at Alyn Hospital on Thursday. The operation was performed by a team headed by Dr. Uzi Yizhar.
Knopf has been paralyzed from the neck down since his road accident,which caused serious damage to his spinal cord. Since then, he has beenattached to a respirator to keep him breathing, similarly to that ofthe late Christopher Reeve (“Superman”) who suffered the same damagewhen he fell from a horse in 1995.
The breathing respirator sends an electrical signal to the respiratorymuscles of the diaphragm under the lungs and enables the patient to beweaned from the respirator. The device’s $30,000 cost was funded byKnopf’s insurer, Kupat Holim Meuhedet.
Dr. Eliezer Be’eri, head of Alyn’s respiratory rehabilitation unit,said that the implant brings hope to the patient and can greatlyimprove the quality of life of many people attached to a respiratory tokeep breathing. “This is an important breakthrough that gives hope tospinal cord victims,” he said.