Ren Xiaoping says his team wants human trials of spinal cord fusion

Chinese surgeon Ren Xiaoping told RIA Novosti that his team wants to move from animal experiments to human clinical research on spinal cord fusion.

Ren outlined the intention on 20 October. He said the team had worked on the technique for 10 years and now considered it possible to study its use in people.

Ren and Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero previously participated in research published in Surgical Neurology International. In a study involving dogs, the authors described recovery of movement after complete spinal cord transection followed immediately by treatment with polyethylene glycol.

Those experiments examined tissue reconnection after a sharp surgical cut. Polyethylene glycol was applied directly after the injury to help fuse cell membranes.