A LIVE & EXCLUSIVE PRESENTATION ON JULY 17: Neurosurgeon to discuss the Nerve Transfer surgery clinical trials launching in U.S. targeting C4-C8 complete SCIs with no arm/hand function
Two weeks ago, we broke the news of an ambitious clinical trial that has launched at seven U.S. and Canadian university hospitals with the goal of enrolling 70 persons with C4-C8 complete spinal cord injuries, who have experienced no arm or hand function, as part of a Nerve Transfer study for those who are 3 months to 36 months post injury. NorCal SCI is proud to announce the hosting of an exclusive virtual presentation on Fri., July 17th at 4 p.m. PT featuring one of the neurosurgeons behind these trials who will discuss the study, what it aims to achieve, why it has been limited to a certain segment of the SCI population, other applications for this approach as well as take your questions.
During this hour-long presentation, Dr. Wilson Z. Ray, Professor of Neurosurgery at Washington University in St. Louis, will take you behind the scenes of the ambitious clinical trials, the largest in North America. In these trials, individuals must exhibit ASIA A-B function and will receive the surgery in one arm only. The FDA-approved trials represent the largest-ever held in North America and are free to those enrolled. In nerve transfer surgery, the surgeon takes a nerve from above the level of injury that is not crucial to an area’s function, or that is redundant to another nerve, and attaches it to a significant nerve below the level of injury. That nerve will grow into the other nerve and basically take over its function, allowing patients to recover or at least improve some of the function that they’ve lost. Nerve transfer allows for the reactivation of the muscles that are actually meant to perform those lost functions and can take at least a year to show benefits because the nerves need time to join together and the muscles have to be retrained with therapy.
Dr. Ray is the Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Director of the joint Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery, and Orthopedic Peripheral Nerve Fellowship. He completed his Neurosurgery residency and a Peripheral Nerve fellowship at Washington University and then completed a fellowship in complex spinal surgery at the University of Utah. He has extensive National Institute of Health and Department of Defense funding for his work in cervical myelopathy and nerve transfers for tetraplegia.
This free virtual presentation is part of “NorCal SCI’s Virtual is the New Reality Series” and you must register in advance to attend by clicking HERE. Once you register, you will immediately receive a confirmation e-mail from us which you should keep for access information to the virtual event.