Abdominal stimulation and acute tetraplegia

FES for breathing support - Using abdominal muscle stimulation to assist ventilator weaning in acute tetraplegia has been the subject of research conducted at the University of Glasgow and the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow, Scotland. This research was reported recently at the UK IFESS meeting and the UK’s Spinal Cord Injury Research Meeting. Our first client is now using our RehaStim with custom software successfully at home.

Research had previously suggested that abdominal muscle stimulation in tetraplegia could induce breathing in people without an ability to ventilate spontaneously. Furthermore, such stimulation, it was suggested, could assist in tacheostomy decannulation.  

In a clinical case study, Gollee et el worked with a 24yr old male with a C4/5 fracture dislocation and head injury who was fully ventilator dependent at 2 months post injury although capable of short periods of neck breathing (up to 3 minutes up to twice per day).
In this case and subsequent single cases the researchers found that abdominal muscle stimulation allowed earlier and longer ventilator weaning sessions.

Open questions require further research to determine the optimal duration of this intervention and how to predict outcome improvements.