New Treatment Helps Cure Spinal Injuries

wap writes "Researchers have found that an injection of polyethylene glycol (PEG) into the site of neural injury was very effective in saving neurons in dogs, allowing them to recover their movement after the injury. This is an amazing development. PEG is a simple, safe chemical. Using it as a post-injury treatment could prevent paralysis in thousands of accident victims every year, if hospitals start using it. This doesn't mean we don't need stem cell research, but it is a simple and potentially cheap way to get many of the benefits for spinal injury."

Comments

Yes, but...

[k4_pacific]

Yes, but, does it work if you are paralyzed from the neck up?

with advancement comes obsolescence...

[viva_fourier]

...and we now sadly bid adieu to the doggy hind-leg cart.

wiener dogs make another contribution to mankind..

[dvd_tude]

... besides eating and burrowing under the covers in one's bed.

(I'd wish they had tried this on my Roxy when she blew a disk a couple of years back.)

This is what happens when I read /. at midnight

[deathazre]

confused polyethylene glycol with ethylene glycol and wondered what they were doing injecting antifreeze into dogs (and wouldn't it be easier to put it in their water dish?)