A new device allowed a paralyzed man to move his hand using nothing but his thoughts.
Ian Burkhart, 23-year-old quadriplegic was the first patient to try out the new technology, dubbed Neurobridge, a Battelle news release reported. The device is an "electronic neural bypass" that reconnects the brain to the muscles, allowing paralyzed limbs to move.
"It's much like a heart bypass, but instead of bypassing blood, we're actually bypassing electrical signals," Chad Bouton, research leader at Battelle, said in the news release. "We're taking those signals from the brain, going around the injury, and actually going directly to the muscles."
The technology combines algorithms that decode the user's brain activity with a "high-definition muscle stimulation sleeve" that translates the neural impulses and transmits them to the limb.
"Initially, it piqued my interested because I like science, and it's pretty interesting," Burkhart said. "I've realized, 'You know what? This is the way it is. You're going to have to make the best out of it.' You can sit and complain about it, but that's not going to help you at all. So, you might as well work hard, do what you can and keep going on with life."
The team performed a three-hour surgery on Burkhart in which a tiny chip was implanted into his brain. This chip interprets the brain signals and transmits them to computer. The chip allowed the patient to move his hand within a tenth of a second of having a thought.
"The surgery required the precise implantation of the micro-chip sensor in the area of Ian's brain that controls his arm and hand movements," Ohio State neuroscience researcher Doctor Ali Rezai.
The researchers hope this new technology will one day help patients with a variety of spinal cord and brain injuries.
"I've been doing rehabilitation for a lot of years, and this is a tremendous stride forward in what we can offer these people," Ohio State neuroscience researcher Doctor Jerry Mysiw, said in the news release. "Now we're examining human-machine interfaces and interactions, and how that type of technology can help."
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