The National
Spinal Cord
Injury Association

Disability in the News.

Asthma Treatment May Help Patients With SCI.

A drug called theophylline has been used for years to help people with breathing problems. Theophylline may also help patients with spinal cord injuries. Animal research has shown that theophylline improves the function of nerves to breathing muscles.

We have recently shown that theophylline may also work in spinal cord patients. After receiving theophylline, a C5-C6 spinal cord patient who was injured in 1979 showed improvement in nerve and breathing muscle function.

We are looking for cervical spinal cord injured individuals who would be willing to participate in a research study involving theophylline. Specifically, the patient should have suffered a cervical spinal cord injury no sooner than one month ago. Patients who were injured years ago are perfectly acceptable. Currently, we are looking for patients who are not ventilator-dependent, but still may have some respiratory muscle weakness.

We are also interested in hearing from ventilator-dependent tetraplegics who will be the subject of our research in the near future. All subjects will be asked to spend one 8-,hour day with us for testing at Harper Hospital in Detroit.

For more detailed information, please contact Dr. Harry Goshgarian by telephone: (313) 577-1045, fax: (313) 577-3125, email: hgoshgar@med.wayne.edu or by mail at: Department of Anatomy/Cell Biology, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, 540 East Canfield Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201  
 

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