A new stroke treatment is accomplishing what was once thought
to be impossible.
CBS 17's Liz Ortiz is joining us now with a
closer look at that treatment.
Hey Liz. Hey guys. Well,
doctors say this new treatment is restoring mobility years after
a stroke,
helping patients make progress. When Jim Nordgaard had a stroke
10 years ago,
his life changed in an instant.
Could do anything, mountain bike,
golf, do whatever, and then becoming totally helpless.
And it was awful. He made some initial progress,
but after the first six months,
he found it nearly impossible to restore the movement he
had lost.
It plateaued, and I wasn't getting any better,
and it was frustrating, and I was looking for different
remedies.
Searching the Internet all the time,
he learned about a procedure at Mount Sinai called paired
vagus nerve stimulation.
A stimulation device called Vivvy stem is surgically implanted in
the neck and a battery is placed in the chest.
Neurosurgeon Christopher Kellner says it was already being used to
treat depression and epilepsy,
but now they're having great success using it on stroke
patients.
To respond to rehab. So it augments the rehab function,
gives them a chance to do much better,
and then you're going to grab that.
Jim or his physical therapist can activate the device when
he wants to do physical activity.
It was life changing. So now I can pour and
I can drink.
Whereas before they, you know,
I wouldn't even try. I can walk like today I
walk 5 miles to get here and just to walk
around.
So far it's being used on patients with strokes,
typically caused by a blood clot.
And it takes months of physical therapy to be successful.
But the results are promising.
This is a group of patients who had no treatment
options before,
and now we've suddenly got something to offer them,
giving stroke patients back something they thought they'd lost for
good.
And the biggest challenge now is the procedure is not
covered by insurance.
In most cases. Doctors are hoping that changes as the
surgery becomes more common.
Guys.