Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Program

Patients sustaining injuries to the upper spinal cord from trauma, tumors or surgery are often unable to breathe on their own, requiring mechanical ventilation to sustain their lives. Ventilator dependency imparts a functional restriction on these patients, as they may never again be able to return home or perform activities of daily living. At The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction, we perform surgical procedures to allow these patients the ability to breathe without the ventilator, restoring a sense of independence and freedom.

This procedure to alleviate ventilator dependency is performed by Dr. Matthew Kaufman, trained in Otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) and the only known expert in the world to perform related phrenic nerve surgery. He treats spinal cord injured patients at facilities in both New Jersey and California.

In other treatment for spinal cord injured patients, the doctors at The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction perform a groundbreaking procedure intended to restore sensation to the hip and buttock areas in paraplegics with recurrent pressure sores. Nerve grafting is performed in conjunction with flap surgery to treat the pressure sore and provide the opportunity for sensory recovery.