Swiss Doctors Develop Implant For Spinal Cord Injury Patients

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) An implant developed as a result of research carried out in Switzerland considerably improves the living conditions of people with spinal cord injuries, say the doctors behind this innovation. It remedies the chronic hypotension from which these patients suffer. This content was published on September 18, 2025 - 10:47 3 minutes Keystone-SDA

• Français fr Un implant qui redonne le goût à la vie aux personnes paralysées Original Read more: Un implant qui redonne le goût à la vie aux personnes paralysée
• Português pt Médicos suíços desenvolvem implante inovador para a medula espinhal Read more: Médicos suíços desenvolvem implante inovador para a medula espinha

The lack of blood pressure regulation is one of the invisible consequences of paralysis, explain neuroscience professor Grégoire Courtine of the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon at the Lausanne University Hospital who also teaches at the University of Lausanne.

In people with a spinal cord injury, the signal from the brain that is supposed to constrict the blood vessels no longer gets through, because the neurons that need to be activated there are no longer activated. The new device enables contact to be re-established by stimulating the nerve cells responsible for managing tension.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

To develop such an implant, the researchers first had to identify the entire neuronal architecture of the spinal cord responsible for the uncontrolled rise in blood pressure. This is a very specific area. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

Courtine and Bloch's team then designed an implantable system capable of targeting this particular area of the spinal cord by electrical stimulation, thereby preventing the chronic hypotension that affects people suffering from paralysis. This system is presented in Nature Medicine.

More More Healthcare innovation Novartis bets on ageing as next frontier in drug development

This content was published on May 23, 2025 Swiss pharma giant Novartis is diving into research on ageing to tap the growing market for drugs that help keep older adults healthy.

Read more: Novartis bets on ageing as next frontier in drug developmen

MENAFN18092025000210011054ID1110081205