Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Reeve's Surgery

Aired March 13, 2003 - 11:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve has undergone abdominal surgery that may permit him one day to breathe on his own again. Although he's not the first to have the procedure, it is still experimental.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to explain how it all works. It's fascinating.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is.

You know, everyone has been keeping a close eye on Reeve now for eight since this accident occurred. They said he'd be able to start moving again. He did, wiggled his toes. They said he'd be able to start breathing a little bit on his own. He did, at least for short periods of time.

And now we're talking about a new procedure, and I actually brought a model along to sort of demonstrate this. They're talking about a new procedure to actually innervate his diaphragm, give his diaphragm some electrical current.

Now let me just explain a couple of things. These are the lungs up here. His injury, Christopher Reeves injury, Took place in his neck over here. Right now, he has a trach, so he breathes actually through his throat. These are the lungs. The diagram down here is now going to receive some innervation, so it will expand and contract, thus pushing the lungs up and down.

COSTELLO: So they've actually implanted electrodes in his diaphragm? How does that work?

GUPTA: That's right, and it used to be a big procedure. They used to actually make a big incision along the side. Now they did it through four dime-size incisions, just dime-sized incisions up and down the abdomen and the chest area and actually put these electrodes in. These wires then come out and go to a little battery pack. The most amazing thing, he doesn't need the ventilator anymore if this works properly. It looks like it will.

Reeve's is only the third patient to have this done, and we actually have his neurologist, Dr. McDonald. He's been following him all along. And I should add he's on his way to Brazil, but was kind enough to join us from the airport.

Dr. McDonald, are you there?

DR. JOHN MCDONALD, REEVE'S NEUROLOGIST: Yes, I am. GUPTA: Thank you very much for joining us.

Listen, everyone is very excited about this particular procedure. What does this mean for Reeve now? what is this going to mean for him for his future?

MCDONALD: Well, for him it really fulfills a major goal for this year, which is to get him off the ventilator. What he does for a living, talking, being off the ventilator dramatically accelerates his ability to do that and also reduces his risk of getting an infection. There's reason to believe this could help toward him being independent of the ventilator in the future.

I'll point out as well, now that he has this process going on, he should be able to talk more normally and smell, which is something he hasn't done in about eight years or so. When you talk about the future do you think his diaphragm will start working on its own now that you're building it up with this device?

There's no question he has some control over his diaphragm. This procedure will increase the strength of his diaphragm, much as it would if you exercised the muscle. He'll get to the point some day that he will be able to breathe off the ventilator.

That is just remarkable. For eight years we've been following his story. He started to move his toes, started to breathe on his own a bit. The people that people have been holding out on Reeve is to see if he would actually work again. Do you think his recovery so far has been a miracle as so many people have talked about?

MCDONALD: Yes, I would say even more than a miracle. It was really impossible and he broke through that barrier, now multiple times. And that changes the situation for everyone in the future, that if believe it is doable, then people do try. We are starting to understand that the nervous system is capable of a recovery, even long after an injury.

GUPTA: It is fascinating.

A lot people are at home watching. A lot of people either know someone that's quadriplegic or are themselves. What does this mean for them? Is this something that's going to be made available to them, or is it because of Reeve's celebrity and his financial situation that he's been afforded some of these things that people can't get?

MCDONALD: Well, actually, in this case, the fact that Christopher reeve did this will actually make it available to others, when, in fact, it probably wouldn't have been available.

And keep in mind, also, that oftentimes Christopher gets treated differently and often times negatively, like it was very difficult to get him into this trial and other trials because people don't want to take that risk of something potentially going wrong. So it's often difficult to get him in, and in this case, this is a procedure that, in small enough numbers, that companies are not that interested in moving this forward as a product, because they don't see it as high profitability, and this is something the National Institutes of Health needs to help out and pick. And now I think Chris bringing some attention this will enable this to move forward and allow others to participate as well.

GUPTA: Yes, we certainly wish him well. And it has brought a lot of attention to this, Carol, no question about. A lot of people focus on his situation. It's a big step for him today.

COSTELLO: It gives a lot of people hope, which is the most important thing in life.

GUPTA Dr. McDonald, thank you very much. Enjoy your trip to Brazil as well.

COSTELLO: That was good of him, wasn't it?

Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired March 13, 2003 - 11:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve has undergone abdominal surgery that may permit him one day to breathe on his own again. Although he's not the first to have the procedure, it is still experimental.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to explain how it all works. It's fascinating.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is.

You know, everyone has been keeping a close eye on Reeve now for eight since this accident occurred. They said he'd be able to start moving again. He did, wiggled his toes. They said he'd be able to start breathing a little bit on his own. He did, at least for short periods of time.

And now we're talking about a new procedure, and I actually brought a model along to sort of demonstrate this. They're talking about a new procedure to actually innervate his diaphragm, give his diaphragm some electrical current.

Now let me just explain a couple of things. These are the lungs up here. His injury, Christopher Reeves injury, Took place in his neck over here. Right now, he has a trach, so he breathes actually through his throat. These are the lungs. The diagram down here is now going to receive some innervation, so it will expand and contract, thus pushing the lungs up and down.

COSTELLO: So they've actually implanted electrodes in his diaphragm? How does that work?

GUPTA: That's right, and it used to be a big procedure. They used to actually make a big incision along the side. Now they did it through four dime-size incisions, just dime-sized incisions up and down the abdomen and the chest area and actually put these electrodes in. These wires then come out and go to a little battery pack. The most amazing thing, he doesn't need the ventilator anymore if this works properly. It looks like it will.

Reeve's is only the third patient to have this done, and we actually have his neurologist, Dr. McDonald. He's been following him all along. And I should add he's on his way to Brazil, but was kind enough to join us from the airport.

Dr. McDonald, are you there?

DR. JOHN MCDONALD, REEVE'S NEUROLOGIST: Yes, I am. GUPTA: Thank you very much for joining us.

Listen, everyone is very excited about this particular procedure. What does this mean for Reeve now? what is this going to mean for him for his future?

MCDONALD: Well, for him it really fulfills a major goal for this year, which is to get him off the ventilator. What he does for a living, talking, being off the ventilator dramatically accelerates his ability to do that and also reduces his risk of getting an infection. There's reason to believe this could help toward him being independent of the ventilator in the future.

I'll point out as well, now that he has this process going on, he should be able to talk more normally and smell, which is something he hasn't done in about eight years or so. When you talk about the future do you think his diaphragm will start working on its own now that you're building it up with this device?

There's no question he has some control over his diaphragm. This procedure will increase the strength of his diaphragm, much as it would if you exercised the muscle. He'll get to the point some day that he will be able to breathe off the ventilator.

That is just remarkable. For eight years we've been following his story. He started to move his toes, started to breathe on his own a bit. The people that people have been holding out on Reeve is to see if he would actually work again. Do you think his recovery so far has been a miracle as so many people have talked about?

MCDONALD: Yes, I would say even more than a miracle. It was really impossible and he broke through that barrier, now multiple times. And that changes the situation for everyone in the future, that if believe it is doable, then people do try. We are starting to understand that the nervous system is capable of a recovery, even long after an injury.

GUPTA: It is fascinating.

A lot people are at home watching. A lot of people either know someone that's quadriplegic or are themselves. What does this mean for them? Is this something that's going to be made available to them, or is it because of Reeve's celebrity and his financial situation that he's been afforded some of these things that people can't get?

MCDONALD: Well, actually, in this case, the fact that Christopher reeve did this will actually make it available to others, when, in fact, it probably wouldn't have been available.

And keep in mind, also, that oftentimes Christopher gets treated differently and often times negatively, like it was very difficult to get him into this trial and other trials because people don't want to take that risk of something potentially going wrong. So it's often difficult to get him in, and in this case, this is a procedure that, in small enough numbers, that companies are not that interested in moving this forward as a product, because they don't see it as high profitability, and this is something the National Institutes of Health needs to help out and pick. And now I think Chris bringing some attention this will enable this to move forward and allow others to participate as well.

GUPTA: Yes, we certainly wish him well. And it has brought a lot of attention to this, Carol, no question about. A lot of people focus on his situation. It's a big step for him today.

COSTELLO: It gives a lot of people hope, which is the most important thing in life.

GUPTA Dr. McDonald, thank you very much. Enjoy your trip to Brazil as well.

COSTELLO: That was good of him, wasn't it?

Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com