A.S.Brukhovetsky and Y.A. Merkoulov
Clinic of Restorative Interventional Neurology and Therapy 'NeuroVita', Russian Oncology Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, Russia Published 2003 EFNS European Journal of Neurology 10

Achievements of modern neurobiology and surgery open unlimited possibilities in organ reconstruction and tissue engineering. Application of transplantation and enterogeno-surgical approaches in spinal trauma treatment enhances the CNS cells survival, new synaptic contacts growing and substitution of injured cell's function. We examined 17 patients (30 + 10 years old) with spinal cord injury (mean 5 + 4 years after trauma), 14 M, 5 F. To achieve the restoration of the disturbed neurological functions we designed and patented the method of brain tissue engineering. It allows the zone tissue. Open reconstructive surgery was carried out for eight patients within the study; for the other nine, the reconstruction of the spinal cord was accessed by means of implantation systems (ports, shunts, catheters and programmable neurostimulators). The results demonstrated that even in cases of traumatic disease, the compensatory resources of the spinal cord could be potentiated significantly. FIM and ASIA scales analysis revealed the most spectacular progress after low-invasive interventional technology application (P < 0.001). Combined cell transplantation technique of neural and glial cultures did not show evident clinical effect. Neither did the application of xenogenic Schwann cells. However, after transplantation of an embryonic xenogenic Schwann and olfactory cells coculture, one patient had pelvic functions restored that had been impaired for 20 years. Thus we conclude that high bioengineering technology is the new means of neurological care of the most severe forms of ver-tebrospinal trauma leading to the improvement of the quality of life and probably claiming to be the final choice of treatment of such patients.