{"id":3095,"date":"2015-04-01T14:43:03","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T18:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/52.229.122.34\/en\/?p=3095"},"modified":"2021-02-17T12:46:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T17:46:47","slug":"first-nerve-transfer-surgery-in-canada-at-the-ottawa-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/uncategorized\/first-nerve-transfer-surgery-in-canada-at-the-ottawa-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"First nerve transfer surgery in Canada at The Ottawa Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"First nerve transfer surgery in Canada at The Ottawa Hospital\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gKwUeiUW7I4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-center\"><em>A TOH surgical team rerouted nerves in Timothy Raglin\u2019s arm to restore movement to his fingers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Timothy Raglin may soon move his fingers for the first time in seven years after a team of surgeons at The Ottawa Hospital performed Canada\u2019s first-ever nerve transfer surgery on a quadriplegic patient.<\/p>\n<p>Raglin shattered part of his spinal column when he dove from the dock at his family cottage over seven years ago. He\u2019s been a quadriplegic since the accident, but he has some movement in his upper arms and wrists, which made him a candidate for the surgery. He can\u2019t control the nerves that move his fingers, but they\u2019re still alive and the muscles are healthy, said Dr. Kirsty Boyd, who performed the surgery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s just sitting there, waiting,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we can plug something into it, it\u2019s good to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3098 size-full img-responsive\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/znwkstro8182024014222465995.jpg\" alt=\"First nerve transfer surgery in Canada at The Ottawa Hospital\" width=\"448\" height=\"278\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/znwkstro8182024014222465995.jpg 448w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/znwkstro8182024014222465995-300x186.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-center\"><em>Timothy Raglin and Dr. Kirsty Boyd demonstrated his current arm function before his nerve transfer surgery.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The procedure was pioneered by Canadian surgeon Dr. Susan Mackinnon, who flew at her own cost to Ottawa from St. Louis with colleague Dr. Ida Fox to guide the hospital\u2019s team through Raglin\u2019s surgery. Mackinnon herself has performed the surgery only a handful of times.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Boyd worked with TOH physiatrist Dr. Gerald Wolff to plan the surgery and select Raglin as an eligible candidate. They\u2019re planning research on patient selection and outcomes of the procedure, in collaboration with Washington University in St. Louis.<\/p>\n<p>During the surgery, the team connected the nerve that controls Raglin\u2019s ability to pinch his right thumb and forefinger \u2013 disconnected from his brain since the accident \u2013 to a donor nerve from a muscle that bends the elbow. A similar procedure connected another donor nerve to one that should allow him to open his hand.<\/p>\n<p>The nerves will die beyond where they were cut and sewn together, said Dr. Boyd, but the tubes that contained them will remain. The nerve should regrow down this pathway and branch out into the muscles. Nerves regrow at about an inch per month, so it could take a year to see the results.<\/p>\n<p>Raglin said he doesn\u2019t mind the wait \u2013 he\u2019s thrilled that he was eligible for the surgery. For him, any improvement means more independence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy expectations are low. If it\u2019s just a simple pinch to pick up grapes and feed myself grapes or chips, I\u2019m happy,\u201d he said. \u201cAt least I\u2019ve got something.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A TOH surgical team rerouted nerves in Timothy Raglin\u2019s arm to restore movement to his fingers. &nbsp; Timothy Raglin may soon move his fingers for the first time in seven years after a team of surgeons at The Ottawa Hospital performed Canada\u2019s first-ever nerve transfer surgery on a quadriplegic patient. Raglin shattered part of his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}