Nexstim Plc, a targeted neuromodulation company developing and marketing navigated, personalised and non-invasive brain stimulation systems for diagnostics and therapy recently announced that Helsinki University Hospital in Finland has received significant funding from the renowned Wings for Life Foundation to continue its research into spinal cord injury rehabilitation using Nexstim’s SmartFocusTM technology.
Wings for Life specifically supports international research focused on finding new treatment methods for spinal cord injury patients whose rehabilitation is known to be highly challenging.
The research group at the BioMag laboratory at Helsinki University Hospital is conducting a study on a new rehabilitation treatment for patients who are paralysed as a result of a spinal cord injury. The studied treatment combines transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with simultaneous peripheral nerve stimulation.
The research group, led by Anastasia Shulga, has already generated promising preliminary results in spinal cord injury rehabilitation using Nexstim’s NBS system. These results have been published in several well-known scientific journals [1,2].
The funding from Wings for Life for the Helsinki University Hospital group will be for an initial two-year period with a possible one-year extension. This new funding will allow the researchers to conduct an extensive clinical study that will recruit a larger number of patients paralysed due to spinal cord injuries who are at the subacute stage.
Helsinki University Hospital is utilising the NBS System for chronic spinal cord injury therapy as a research utility only, as the NBS has not yet been approved for this therapeutic indication.
References: 1. Shulga A. et al. Long-term paired associative stimulation can restore voluntary control over paralyzed muscles in incomplete chronic spinal cord injury patients. Spinal Cord Series and Cases 2016: 2. Article number: 16016.
2. Tomacheva A. et al. Long-Term Paired Associative Stimulation Enhances Motor Output of the Tetraplegic Hand, JOURNAL OF NEUROTRAUMA 34:2668–2674 (September 15, 2017) Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/neu.2017.4996
