ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Within minutes of the hit that
left Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett lying on the turf with a
catastrophic spine injury, doctors were pumping cold saline into him.
The rapid response could be part of the reason why Everett has reportedly
been able to move his leg, hip, elbows and biceps, according to W. Dalton
Dietrich, Ph.D., a professor of neurological surgery at the University of
Miami Miller School of Medicine, where Everett is receiving care. Doctors
treating the athlete, who was only in his third year in the NFL, now say
walking may not be out of the question. Earlier this week, the prognosis was
less hopeful.
"Early treatment with neuroprotective strategies, be it with drugs or
hypothermia, has the best chance of working," Dr. Dietrich, who is
Scientific Director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, told Ivanhoe.
Faster responses and advances in the way people are treated immediately
after a spine injury may mean a better prognosis for Everett than for NFL
players who suffered similar injuries in the past, like Mike Utley who was
paralyzed while playing for the Detroit Lions in 1991.
"Emergency response to injuries has really increased, so patients are
getting to hospitals and getting treated earlier than later," said Dr.
Diethrich. "And that's one of the reasons why we thought treatments did not
work several years ago."
Everett was infused with cold saline, inducing hypothermia, within 15
minutes of his injury. The treatment is something physicians at the
University of Miami have been using to treat spinal cord injuries and heart
attacks for several years, according to Dr. Dietrich. By infusing patients
with cold saline, doctors lower their core temperature. This slows down the
body's responses to injury, which, in Everett's case, may have given doctors
valuable time to decompress his spinal cord before more damage was done.
Dr. Dietrich said he and other scientists are researching new ways to treat
spinal cord injuries, including altering fibroblasts, a type of skin cell,
to release growth factors. These cells could then be introduced into injured
patients to help regenerate damaged nerves. How to do this effectively is
still under study.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D.
