The innovative treatment to regain mobility after a body paralysis discovered by a Colombian doctor

After a brainstem stroke, a 40-year-old patient was completely paralyzed on the right side of the body and the left patient had a partial loss of motion. Recovery of body stability was unlikely. But the Colombian neurologist Gabriel Augusto Castillo has developed a new treatment based on electromagnetic stimulation that allowed the woman to move again; and it promises to be the beginning of a scientific breakthrough in the world.

The cause of body paralysis – describes Castillo – is in the brain, although its consequence is manifested on the muscles. For that, created a treatment intended for the brain, with the aim of improving the neuronal functions activating the muscles responsible for the stability of the body, also known as postural control, which "is the basis of any movement and corresponds to the acquisition of each child during the first year of life, allowing to lift the head, of s & # 39; sit down and stand up ".

Castillo, a member of the Colombian Association of Neurology and the Colombian Society of Psychobadysis, aims to allow patients with partial paralysis of the body to significantly recover their movements. And it seems that he has succeeded, with the creation of a method based on electromagnetic waves which would improve the quality of life of patients with diseases such as thrombosis, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

Magnetic stimulation is a procedure in which a magnetic pulse is applied that crosses the skull and reaches the cerebral cortex, the brain site where the largest number of neurons are housed, in order to produce changes in an attempt to regain function. abnormal brain, as Dr. Castillo explained Infobae. It has been known for more than 20 years that this is a non-invasive method par excellence for the treatment of refractory neurological and psychiatric diseases.

The neurophysiological procedure can be applied in any area of ​​the cerebral cortex. It consists of placing a coil on the patient's scalp, "which administers a magnetic pulse that pbades through the skull and becomes an electrical impulse that stimulates the neurons". New technologies allow these waves to reach the bone and alter the cerebral cortex.

To verify this, Castillo has conducted a series of studies and tests in two protocols already approved by the scientific community, which, thanks to this procedure, can activate the muscles responsible for stability or postural control, a function indispensable muscle. restore patients' ability to perform voluntary movements. And until now, there was no treatment in the world.

Thus, he explained, repetitive magnetic stimulation can modify the neuronal response of the brain in charge of movement and activate the muscles of the upper and lower extremities. This is precisely what he did with the patient who attended John's Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, United States.

"Her husband, after a year and a half of paralysis, sought me out on the recommendation of the Argentine neurologist Pablo Celnik.In principle, I told him no, because no protocol had been tested in the world in a patient brainstem injury"Finally, Castillo started a treatment in which the patient had been subjected to electromagnetic waves for seven months.

"After 34 sessions, he managed to recover the movement of the body that is related to stability and is based on the muscles of the shoulders, hips and trunk.. This stability is very important and, scientifically, it is called postural control. This is to say that After a year and a half of body paralysis, this patient has resumed the movement related to postural control"said the neurologist.

Previously, three Argentinian neurologists, Leonardo Cohen, Pablo Celnik and Maximo Zimerman, worked on the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation with important contributions to neurology. What is new is that Castillo discovered that there is a way to activate the muscles in relation to the stability of the body, baduming that it is possible to By activating a cerebral pathway called cortical spinal reticulum.

This is the first case of success recorded in the world in which a paralyzed person, thanks to a magnetic brain stimulation, was able to recover the voluntary movement of the affected part of his body. However, as in any medical procedure, can be effective but not guaranteed for 100% of patientswarned Castillo.

Scientific progress, unique in the world, represents a considerable advance in the treatment of diseases that cause paralysis of the body. The neurologist Gabriel Castillo will present the official results of the clinical case this weekend at the third edition of the International Conference on Brain Stimulation, to be held February 23 and 24 in Vancouver, Canada.