Partial and temporary, but a victory
Brain implant for the first time allowed a paralyzed person to control his hand
Anatoly Alizar, Giktimes
Almost six years ago, a 19-year-old college freshman, Ian Burkhart, unsuccessfully dived into the sea and, by an unfortunate coincidence, broke his neck on the sandy bottom. He was completely paralyzed, lost the ability to control his arms and legs. Such injuries have always been considered incurable. Until yesterday.
On April 13, 2016, specialists from Ohio State University announced that they had managed to restore partial control over Burkhart's right hand and fingers (Device Allows Paralyzed Man To Swipe Credit Card, Perform Other Movements). An experimental cybernetic technology was used for treatment: a chip implanted in the brain directly sends signals to the muscles via wires, bypassing the spinal cord. This is the first case in the history of medicine of restoring control over the hand in a patient with quadriplegia.
The implant is connected via a computer interface to a sleeve with 130 electrodes on the arm.
For two years after the introduction of the chip, Ian trained to focus his thoughts by watching the results on a computer screen in the laboratory. As a result, the training brought success.
Of course, the control of the brush and fingers greatly limits the arsenal of movements. Ian is paralyzed below the chest, has retained partial control only of the shoulders and biceps. Now he got the opportunity to press buttons, play computer games, and perform many other actions.
Brain surgery was performed in 2014. Tomography was previously performed to determine the specific area that is responsible for the movements of the limbs in the motor cortex in the area of the anterior central gyrus of the left hemisphere (just above the ear). During the operation, this area was thoroughly tested to clarify the place for the implant.
"We spent an hour and a half determining the exact location," said Ali Rezai, a surgeon and director of the neuromodulation center at Ohio State University.
A chip with 96 contacts (microelectrodes) was placed in this place, which register the activity of neurons.
After the operation and recovery, numerous trainings began. The brain signal processing software was created by scientists from the non-profit Battelle Memorial Institute. After each training session, the program was calibrated because the signal changed significantly from training to training.
Ian Burkhart says the training sessions were exhausting. The "avatar" on the computer screen (a 3D model of the hand) forced him to try different types of movements.
The signal was transmitted to a sleeve with 130 electrodes. "I had to concentrate very, very hard just to do things that I used to do without thinking at all," says Ian, "But it's like a sport, you try again and again, and gradually it gets easier." The first results appeared a few months later, then for the first time he was able to move the brush himself, without the help of an avatar.
After a year of training, he could already take a bottle, pour the contents into a mug, take a straw with his fingers and drink.
In the end, according to the American medical classification, his disability could be reclassified from a C5 degree to a less severe C7.
Unfortunately, funding for the scientific project ends this year, soon Burkhardt will return home, where he will return to his former life as an almost completely paralyzed invalid.
The results of the scientific work are published in the journal Nature (Bouton et al., Restoring cortical control of functional movement in a human with quadriplegia).
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14.04.2016