Events Calendar
In This Section
Ohio AG warns about new bogus check scams
Mentally ill Ohio inmates refuse post-prison help
Animal death draws attention in Ohio
Man who vandalized grave marker back in jail
Man convicted in '97 Ohio campus assaults
Judge orders polygraphs from sex-assault victims
Ohio school district lifts classroom movie ban
Ohio University fans take to the streets after upset win in NCAA Tournament
Most Read Stories
Tallmadge man dies after motorcycle crash
Passers-by call police over topless gardener
Man on leave from Iraq war slain in Akron
Soldier on leave dies after shooting near UA
Man breaks into house, flees when owner wakes up
Slow starts might hurt Cavs' big finish
Teen accused of drinking, dancing topless in club
Quinn tells Denver his foot has healed
Blogs:
Akron Docs in Haiti:
Almost home
First Bell - On Education:
21st Century Skills and Akron’s new middle school
Pets:
Lost Mini Schnauzer around Cascade Valley Park
The Heldenfiles:
Fess Parker, R.I.P.
Akron Zips:
Looking back on the season
Tribe Matters:
Seven prospects reassigned to minor-league camp
Cleveland Browns:
Yates latest to re-sign
Balanced Ledger:
How times have changed?
Kent State Sports:
Kent State gears up for WNIT at Michigan
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Chicago Bulls (Green Mascot and All)
Buckeye Blogging:
Bucks High Seed – Turner High Praise
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ohio offers Olack
All Da King's Men:
ObamaCare To Reduce Premiums By 3000% ?
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Pathetic GOP Nullification Attempts
Akron Law Café:
More on Shaming Corporate Criminals
Car Chase:
2010 CONCOURS SEASON IS UPON US
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Deals in Miami?!.
Sound Check:
Willie Nelson & Family coming to the Akron Civic Theatre May 11
See Jane Style:
Who Wore What – The Oscars
HRLite House:
Horses of Courses
Akron Gamer:
Video: Gamers expected to 'reach' for new 'Halo'
By M.R. Kropko
Associated Press
POSTED: 01:18 p.m. EST, Jan 09, 2009
CLEVELAND: A 10-year-old boy paralyzed in a car crash became the youngest person to receive a device tested by the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve that allows patients to breathe without a ventilator, a hospital said today.
The implantable device forces breathing by electrically stimulating the muscles and nerves that run through the body's diaphragm.
Today's surgery on Alex Malarkey at University Hospitals Case Western Reserve Medical Center lasted about an hour.
The boy took strong breaths for about five minutes to test the device before returning to the ventilator and going into recovery, said Dr. Raymond Onders, who performed the surgery.
Onders said the boy will gradually be weaned off the ventilator while increasing the time he is able to breathe without it.
Malarkey, a fifth-grader from the small central Ohio town of Huntsville, was paralyzed from the neck down in a 2004 car crash.
Reeve tested the device about five years ago. The Food and Drug Administration in June approved it for use on adults and gave the Cleveland hospital special permission for Malarkey's surgery.
Onders said the two previous youngest patients were both 17, and the procedures were done in Atlanta and Houston.
The device, developed by Synapse Biomedical Inc. of Oberlin, Ohio, allows some spinal cord injury patients to breathe for at least a few hours each day without a ventilator.
Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident in 1995. He died in 2004 after developing a bloodstream infection from a bedsore.
CLEVELAND: A 10-year-old boy paralyzed in a car crash became the youngest person to receive a device tested by the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve that allows patients to breathe without a ventilator, a hospital said today.
The implantable device forces breathing by electrically stimulating the muscles and nerves that run through the body's diaphragm.
Today's surgery on Alex Malarkey at University Hospitals Case Western Reserve Medical Center lasted about an hour.
The boy took strong breaths for about five minutes to test the device before returning to the ventilator and going into recovery, said Dr. Raymond Onders, who performed the surgery.
Onders said the boy will gradually be weaned off the ventilator while increasing the time he is able to breathe without it.
Malarkey, a fifth-grader from the small central Ohio town of Huntsville, was paralyzed from the neck down in a 2004 car crash.
Reeve tested the device about five years ago. The Food and Drug Administration in June approved it for use on adults and gave the Cleveland hospital special permission for Malarkey's surgery.
Onders said the two previous youngest patients were both 17, and the procedures were done in Atlanta and Houston.
The device, developed by Synapse Biomedical Inc. of Oberlin, Ohio, allows some spinal cord injury patients to breathe for at least a few hours each day without a ventilator.
Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident in 1995. He died in 2004 after developing a bloodstream infection from a bedsore.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
