Originally published March 14, 2003
Paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve spent four days in secrecy in Cleveland, then went in front of a media mob at University Hospitals yesterday to discuss his role in an experimental procedure that may allow him to breathe without a mechanical ventilator.
The former star of the "Superman" movies, wearing a UH baseball cap, dark corduroy pants and a charcoal sweater stretched across his broad chest, said the electronic pacemaker stimulating the nerves and muscles in his diaphragm allows him to turn off the ventilator for 15 minutes at a time. Eventually, he hopes to live without the ventilator entirely.
- See update: Oberlin-based Synapse Biomedical receives FDA approval for breathing device used by Christopher Reeve
The procedure was developed at University Hospitals and was tested on the first patient three years ago. Reeve is the third patient, but his participation gives the scientific breakthrough recognition on a much grander scale because of his celebrity profile as an activist, actor and director.
Electrical stimulation was possible previously only with major chest surgery, which poses significant risks and requires long hospitalization.
The new technology is a minimally invasive, outpatient procedure. Reeve said it has restored his sense of smell - a whiff of coffee was the first scent he has picked up since a horseback riding accident left him with a severe spinal cord injury eight years ago.
Reeve described the hospital room falling silent the first time his ventilator was shut off. "All you could hear is me breathing through my nose," he said. "I haven't heard that sound since May 1995."
Dr. Raymond Onders implanted the electrodes in Reeve's diaphragm muscles, within one-quarter inch of branches of the nerve that controls movement of the diaphragm. The electrodes connect to a battery pack about the size of a plug-in carbon monoxide detector.
The 50-year-old Reeve came to UH for the procedure Feb. 28. He returned to Cleveland Sunday for four days at MetroHealth Medical Center, where his diaphragm was reconditioned through intermittent stimulation. The electronic impulses were fine-tuned to achieve a precise degree of air volume.
"I have a slight feeling of what it's like to be a lab rat because I stayed in one room for four days," Reeve said.
He said he can only hope the procedure works. Doctors won't know for two or three months.
"This necktie that I'm wearing is not one of my favorites," said Reeve, alluding to the white ventilation tube protruding from his throat. "I look forward to the day of letting it go."
Reeve said the breathing device is a part of his intense effort to rehabilitate. He began a regimen of experimental therapy in 2000 that involves electrical stimulation of major muscle groups, bone density treatments and aquatherapy.
Since starting the therapy, Reeve has regained some feeling and slight movement, an achievement never before documented in a patient with such a severe spinal cord injury.
The rehabilitation was the subject of a television documentary directed by Reeve's son, Matthew, on ABC last fall. Reeve said yesterday there are plans for another documentary that will highlight his progress with the diaphragm pacing device.
The first patient to have the implanted device, Tom Conlan, has breathed without a respirator for more than two years. The device was not successful for the second patient.
“I’m the true guinea pig - the most successful of them all,” Conlan said yesterday from an Akron nursing home. “I wish I could have been there [at the news conference]. I could have met him.”