Swiss-designed technology helps Parkinson’s patient walk again
LAUSANNE (MNP) – A long-term Parkinson’s disease patient, Marc Gauthier had essentially been confined to his home until he became the first person to receive a new Swiss-designed implant that dramatically improved his ability to walk.
Gauthier, 63, received a neuroprosthetic at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), comprising an electrode field placed against his spinal cord. Combined with an electrical impulse generator under the skin of his abdomen, the device stimulates his spinal cord to activate his leg muscles.
“It changed my life because I’m now independent,” said Gauthier, a native of the French city of Bordeaux, as he sat with his doctors at CHUV. “I can leave my home, run errands. I even go on foot.”
Parkinson’s is a degenerative neurological disease characterized by symptoms such as tremors, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination.
The incidence of this disease has doubled over the past 25 years, according to the World Health Organization. Global estimates showed that more than 8.5 million people suffered from the disease in 2019.
Grégoire Courtine, one of the doctors leading the project, said the electrical pulses delivered to Gauthier’s spinal cord enabled him to walk the way he would have without the disease.
