New surgery could help actor breathe

CLEVELAND -- Doctors have implanted electrodes in Christopher Reeve's diaphragm in an experiment they hope will allow the paralyzed actor to breathe without a respirator, hospital officials said Thursday.\nReeve, 50, has needed help breathing since he broke his neck in a horseback riding accident eight years ago.\nThe actor, best known as star of the "Superman" movies, can now breathe for more than two hours without the respirator, compared with 10 minutes before the surgery.\nThe assistance of the electrodes eventually might strengthen his diaphragm muscles enough to allow Reeve to breathe on his own, said Dr. John McDonald, who has helped design the actor's treatment.\n"This procedure is designed to breathe for Chris," said McDonald, director of the spinal cord injury program at Washington University in St. Louis.\nReeve scheduled a news conference for later Thursday to discuss the Feb. 28 procedure. In a statement, Dr. Raymond Onders, who performed the operation, said initial tests yielded "impressive results."\n"As the diaphragm contracted, his lungs filled with air and the volume of air that was exhaled and measured was certainly adequate for us to believe that this device would provide successful breathing support," he said.\nOver time, Reeve also will be able to speak more normally, Onders said. The implant also could greatly reduce other medical complications caused by the ventilator, including infections, McDonald said.\nReeve is the third person to undergo the procedure.\nThe first was a 36-year-old Ohio man who was paralyzed in a 1998 swimming accident. He has been breathing with the help of the implants for two years, the hospital said.\nThe operation, called diaphragm pacing via laparoscopy, involves threading tiny wires through small incisions in the diaphragm. The wires connect a control box worn outside the body to electrodes on the diaphragm.\nThe control box sends a signal to the electrodes 12 times a minute, causing the diaphragm to contract and air to be sucked into the lungs. When the nerve isn't stimulated, the diaphragm relaxes and the air is expelled.\n"Diaphragm pacing unlocks a door to greater independence, one of the most important goals for all people living with disabilities," Reeve said in statement.\nAccording to University Hospitals, the alternative treatment for someone with Reeve's paralysis is a thoracotomy, in which doctors open the patient's chest to attach electrodes directly to the nerves that control breathing.\nThe surgery costs about $100,000, carries significant risk of damaging the nerves and requires weeks of recovery, the hospital said. By contrast, the procedure Reeve's underwent can be performed as outpatient surgery and could cost about $50,000, the hospital said.\nThe researchers estimated that out of 10,000 spinal cord injuries each year, about 1,000 patients require mechanical breathing assistance for some time after the injury. About 300 may require mechanical assistance for the rest of their lives.\nReeve's surgery was funded by a joint research project of the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Surgical Corp., which makes surgical devices, with the assistance of the Veterans Administration and the National Institutes of Health.