Youssef Amr Abdelgalil Khorshed, an 18-year-old patient from Egypt, underwent Epidural Stimulation Surgery with Unique Access Medical in Bangkok to treat C5-C6 Spinal Cord Injury. He broke his fifth cervical which caused him pain in the shoulders and his neck.
The accident occurred three years ago in the North Coast of Egypt as he was on a speedboat. “I wanted to jump in the water but I didn’t know that the sand was really close, so I jumped and hit my head on the sand,” he said. His mother helped him by researching on Facebook, where she found about Epidural Stimulation Treatment.
Epidural Stimulation is a treatment where the spinal cord is implanted with a device that enable electrical currents to be sent through the spinal cord. The electrodes are surgically implanted and placed over the spinal cord’s protective coating. The patient has a remote which controls the stimulator to transmit electrical waves into the spinal cord.
He didn’t recall any nervousness during the procedure where he had to undergo surgery to attach the stimulation device. “My mother was nervous, she was afraid but I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t feel anything- I took the anesthetic and slept. I needed to sleep anyway. So it went well,” he said of his feelings that day. He added that there were no side effects and no fever except a change in blood pressure.