Epidural electrical stimulation
Class: Implanted device
What this is
A thin electrode implanted in the back, over the covering of the spinal cord, and a small generator under the skin. The device delivers a weak current to the cord below the injury — not to the tear itself and not to the brain.
What problem it is trying to solve
After an injury some fibres are often intact, but the signal from the brain is no longer strong enough to drive them. This approach tries to make those surviving circuits controllable again — without repairing the fibres that were cut.
How it is supposed to work
The proposed mechanism is that the current does not order a muscle to move: it raises the excitability of the network of neurons inside the cord itself. A weak remaining command from above, together with signals from the limb, then becomes enough for the movement to happen.
Where this is known from: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH) · nobody has yet read that source against these sentences
What this acts on
The parts of the body and the phases of an injury this technology is aimed at, in plain words. Each one opens the rest of what is known about it.
What is being changed here, drawn
The long tracts
A descending path from the motor cortex to the motor neurons. It carries voluntary movement and crosses to the other side in the brainstem.
- Corticospinal tractA descending path from the motor cortex to the motor neurons. It carries voluntary movement and crosses to the other side in the brainstem.
- Building a circuit around the gapInstead of repairing what is damaged, route around it: strengthen the paths that survived or build a new circuit, electrical stimulation among them. This is where epidural electrical stimulation belongs.
How far this has actually got
No step has been recorded for this approach.
A step is recorded when a study in this corpus moves it. Nothing has, so there is no step to show — which is different from the step being zero.
Claims and their evidence states
Human and preclinical evidence are counted separately and never merged.
Human evidence
Nothing has been recorded here yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
Preclinical evidence
Nothing has been recorded here yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
Studies
No study has been recorded for this technology yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
Limits and known risks
It is surgery: anaesthesia, an implant, a risk of infection, of the device moving or failing, and of a second operation. Settings are tuned individually and slowly. Effects are described in small groups of participants; no work in this corpus shows a lasting result with the device switched off.
Safety signals
No safety signal has been recorded.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
Who researches this, and where
The sites are those the registry record names itself, word for word. A place that is absent was not published by the registry, and no location here is guessed.
Where this work was done
No place is recorded for the studies behind this technology.
A place is kept only where the source published one in the field its basis names. Some registry records do not publish a facility, and nothing is inferred from an address that was never given.
Laboratory
Nothing has been recorded here yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
Clinical trial
Nothing has been recorded here yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
What is still missing
What is missing: large controlled comparisons, a shared protocol for tuning the device, and follow-up measured in years rather than months.
Completeness of the literature search
Nothing has been recorded here yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
The originals
Every record behind this page, with a way straight to the publication or the registry entry itself. Nothing here is our text.
No record in this corpus is attributed to this approach.
The searches that were run returned nothing a declared rule could attribute to it. The sources register says what was searched and what each source permits.
Found in the sources and not yet checked
Records the sources hold about this approach that nobody has read yet. They are not evidence and are not counted anywhere on this page.
See what the sources hold — 1238 records
In detail: how all of this was measured
Nothing below has been removed or softened — it is the whole evidence model, one screen down, for anybody who wants to check the sentences above rather than take them.
Where this record was first named
- Epidural electrical stimulation for spinal cord injury.
- Section: 33907008/title
- Identifier: 33907008
- Source: PubMed
- How the name reached us: extraction
The four states
Four separate statements. They are never rolled into one: a technology shown to work in rodents and never tried in people must read as exactly that.
Biologically possible
Not investigated
Nothing has been recorded either way.
Claims and their evidence statesDemonstrated in animals
Not investigated
Nothing has been recorded either way.
Claims and their evidence statesDemonstrated in humans
Not investigated
Nothing has been recorded either way.
Claims and their evidence statesClinically available
Not investigated
Nothing has been recorded either way.
Claims and their evidence statesCombination · Prognostic value
Combination
No dataNothing has been recorded here yet. This is not a zero.Prognostic value
No dataNothing has been recorded here yet. This is not a zero.Readiness by injury phase and impairment band
| Complete | Sensory incomplete | Motor incomplete | Mixed | Not applicable | AIS not reported | Outside our vocabulary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acute | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data |
| Subacute | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data |
| Chronic | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data |
| Unknown | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data |
Nothing has been recorded here yet. This is not a zero.
The eight evidence dimensions
No dataNothing has been recorded here yet. This is not a zero.Technologies · Relationships
Nothing has been recorded here yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
Outcome measure
Nothing has been recorded here yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
Cell type, biomaterial or animal model
Nothing has been recorded here yet.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.
Relationships to other technologies
No relationship to another technology has been recorded.
This map holds only what has been read and checked against a source, and nothing has been recorded for this section. Empty here means exactly that — not zero, and not a fault in the page.