Spinal Cord Injury Help

A very promising article from the Indy paper yesterday.





By Diana Penner
[email protected]
December 3, 2004


Madeline and Fred Pernell will never know exactly what happened with Rusty. They came home from a shopping trip and found their miniature dachshund dragging his back legs.

He was paralyzed. It looked bleak. Their veterinarian couldn't offer much hope.

That was about three years ago.

Thursday, the little dog was yapping happily and has long been back to scampering about the Pernells' yard in Kokomo.

He is one of the success stories of a Purdue University study that offers hope for humans who suffer severe spinal cord injuries and face paralysis.

Led by Richard Borgens, director of the Center for Paralysis Research in Purdue's School of Veterinary Medicine, the study involved the injection of a substance called polyethylene glycol, or PEG for short.

The substance, which can be likened to "liquid plastic," helps prevent additional deterioration if it's administered within 72 hours of an initial injury.

The study, which also involved researchers at Texas A&M University, was published in this month's issue of the Journal of Neurotrauma.

Borgens has yet to receive approval for testing the substance on humans, so practical application is likely years away. But he is hopeful.

"I dream of it hanging in solution in an IV in the ambulance itself," Borgens said.

That's because the best results appear to come if the substance is administered as soon as possible after an injury that involves crushing or severe bruising of the spinal cord.

The polymer can't be used weeks, months or years after an injury; it must be administered within 72 hours.

PEG acts as a kind of "molecular Band-Aid," Borgens explained. Injury causes "holes" in nerve cell membranes in the spinal cord. PEG seals the hole, sort of the way liquid soap creates a film on the round part of a bubble wand. That patch lets the nerve cell reconstruct itself. PEG is flushed out of the body within about two hours, Borgens said.

Researchers previously had tested PEG on guinea pigs. Beginning in 2001 and through last year, research was conducted on 19 dogs that sustained severe spinal cord injuries. All of the injuries occurred in accidents, Borgens emphasized -- none of the dogs was deliberately injured for the research.

In each case, the dogs were taken to their veterinarian soon after the injury and then referred to one of the participating universities.

That's what happened with Rusty. Madeline Pernell said they got the little dog to their vet, who suggested back surgery -- at a cost of about $2,500. The Pernells, who are retired, couldn't afford that, so their vet referred them to Purdue. Rusty immediately had surgery and was administered the experimental substance.

The Pernells visited him at Purdue, where he was walking, with support, about four days after the procedure, she recalled.

Rusty came home after about 10 days, and the Pernells were to continue walking him with support from a sling. But the day they got him home and went to take him to the back yard in his sling, it got tangled. As Fred Pernell tried to fix it, the dog took charge.

"Rusty just took off walking," Madeline Pernell said. "It surprised us so much, I called Purdue right away. I said, 'Rusty's walking!' They were real happy.

"He's out walking and running around right now."

Call Star reporter Diana Penner at (317) 444-6249.

Wow! What a great break-through!! Thanks for sharing that info, Liz.

I read about this in our local paper.

Here is the article our paper published : http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,140467,00.html

What is amazing to me is that polyethylene glycol (PEG) is "a nontoxic liquid polymer composed of long strings of the same type of molecules found in antifreeze." :eek: Slight differences between molecules can result in such significant differences in physical properties and I never cease to be amazed by it.

I got a phone call from my realtor who was showing my house. My dog Scooby wasn't able to walk! She said he was dragging himself. I told her to take him immediately to the Vet. When I got to the Vet's office I demanded to see him while we were waiting on the Vet to see him. He was paralyzed COMPLETELY on the RIGHT side of his body!
You could physically feel no circulation on the right side from the back end to the front paw. It was cold. The Vet took Scooby in and gave him a shot to relax him. He had to stay overnight for observation. I cried. The next day the news wasn't any better at all. The Vet told me that the shot did not work and he was still paralyzed.
I visited everyday. He wouldn't go to the bathroom unless I took him. He fell in his own urine because he couldn't walk. He tried but couldn't stand up. I had to hold him up to have him go to the bathroom. (He's a big fat boy too!) He had to stay 5 days in the Vet's office.
The Vet finally released him but told me that he would be walking to the right. The cause of his ailment was unknown. It couldn't be decided if it was a full stroke or other ailment. The option of putting him down wasn't discussed and wasn't going to happen either.
I got Scooby home and he wasn't able to go through the doggy door. When he got walked he got tired sooner. Had to carry him home at times. His front paw would scrape the pavement and bleed. I put mittens on him but that did not help. He'd lose them. Gradually he built strength back but not to a adequate point to continue our normal routine.
I decided to find another house. One with a big backyard that he could play and walk in without scraping his paw. This would also allow him more exercise. So yes, I bought a house for my dog!
I signed the closing papers and move Scooby and Shaggy in. Scooby heads straight for the back door! There is a elevated deck at the a back. He got down the stairs. A few minutes later I went to check on him. He could NOT walk up the stairs!!! I just bought a new house and he couldn't get into the house!!!:eek: :rolleyes:
Eventually, I modified the stairs and he grew stronger. He's now to the point where he's got a pronounced limp. His front paw is still dead but the back one has built up. He has terrible gas since part of his intensines may have been affected.
Scooby is still Alpha dog. He even beat up a German Shepard I adopted temporarily. He's now wrestling with a Boarder Collie. He is a beagle/ Jack Russel mix. The Border collie is twice his size!
My rehab I've done on Scooby is to massage and exercise his joints. I rub his front paw and have him jump up. He also has to climb stairs. I took him to a park and he got in the water and chases geese!
I don't give up hope on Scooby. Everyday he surprises me. It has been a year since his "Stroke". His recovery is about 90%. The doctor told me good news at the last visit. There were signs of a nerve NOT being damaged. That could mean he could recover even more. I am hiding that news from Shaggy since he wants to be in charge one day. I wonder if it wasn't an attempt to get Scooby out of the way on his behalf this happened?