A pioneering new treatment is allowing a paralyzed man to walk again.
Doctors in Poland transplanted cells from the man’s nasal cavity into his spinal cord.
Darek Fidyka, who was paralyzed from the chest down after being stabbed in an attack in 2010, is now able to walk using a frame.
Doctors say the specialist nasal cells from his nose act as pathway cells that enable nerve fibers to be continually renewed.
Scientist believe those cells provided a pathway that allows fibers above and below Fidyka’s injury to reconnect.
“What we’ve done is established a principle, that is nerve fibers can grow back and restore function provided we give them a bridge. I believe this is the moment when paralysis can be reversed,” University College of London professor Geoffrey Raisman said.
Researchers are hoping the same results can be reproduced in a controlled clinical trial to prove the treatment can reverse paralysis.