| |
NeuRX Diaphragm Pacing System, a device manufactured by Synapse Biomedical in Ohio, will help solve breathing problems of patients with upper spinal-cord injuries or related problems.
NeuRX will be inserted by physicians at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The device is designed to give patients more freedom while breathing.
The patients with diseases or injuries that affect breathing muscles, like the diaphragm, are more likely to have lung infections because of their waning ability to inhale and exhale adequately, said Dr. Michael DiMaio, associate professor of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at UT Southwestern.
“Patients who have high-level spinal-cord injuries are unable to breathe efficiently because the nerve signals no longer function,” said DiMaio. The diaphragm separates the abdomen and chest cavity and adds to 80% of respiration.
Nerve signals from the brain give instructions expansion and contraction. When it expands, pressure inside the chest is reduced and air rushes into the lungs. When the diaphragm contracts, air rushes out.
People with spinal-cord injuries that obstruct breathing are normally placed on external mechanical ventilators that support breathing through positive pressure through a tube placed directly in the airway through the front of the throat.
The NeuRX system has four electrodes that are inserted directly into the diaphragm. Electrical signals from an external control device bring on impulses from the phrenic nerve, which runs from the spine to the diaphragm.
Once these signals reach the electrodes in the diaphragm, the muscle is encouraged to expand and contract. This act simulates normal breathing in a better way than external ventilators.
“This device has some advantages over traditional ventilators. Patients have more mobility because they don’t have an external ventilator to carry around, and the surgery to implant the device is less invasive than previous treatments,” said DiMaio.
Researchers are hoping the new device can enhance quality of life and reduce infections that can affect patients on external ventilators.
