The European R&D Project RISE - Use of electrical stimulation to restore standing in paraplegics with long-term denervated degenerated muscles (DDM)

Abstract

RISE was funded in Framework Program (FP5). The consortium included 13 European partners from Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Iceland and six subcontractors from Austria and Germany. Nine of the nineteen were SCI centres. The project started with November 1, 2001 and ended with December 31, 2006. Within RISE a novel rehabilitation method for patients with long-term flaccid paraplegia and no chance of recovery of the nervous system, was developed. It restores their muscle fibres and mass, muscle function and thus in selected cases their ability to rise and maintain a standing posture. Based on the results from animal experiments on rabbit and pig and a patient study the associated technology was developed and finally an initiative to gain compliance with current and future regulatory affaires was part of the project. One basic intension was to provide European industry with a novel product family to support broad clinical application of the method that addresses the needs of about twenty new patients per million EU inhabitants per year. In addition to stimulation equipment for home based training, measurement equipment to support patient supervision was developed, to monitor the biomechanical and electrophysiological muscle conditions - transfer to industry is in progress. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.