Surgeons Implant Computer Chip to Let Paralyzed Man Move Hand

[longknife]

Wednesday, 30 Apr 2014, By Elliot Jager

Neurosurgeons at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center working with computer engineers from Battelle hope a chip implanted in a patient's brain will allow him to control a paralyzed hand with his thoughts, The Washington Post reported. Ohio surgeons hope chip in man?s brain lets him control paralyzed hand with thoughts - The Washington Post

A truly awesome advancement in helping the paralyzed.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Wow, those stupid males do it again Keep putting us down but you will never be able to out do our innovation!

 

[waltky]

Quadriplegic plays guitar after brain implant...

Implant lets paralysed man 'play guitar'
Wed, 13 Apr 2016 - In a world first, a quadriplegic man can once again move his own fingers after a chip was implanted in his brain.

Ian Burkhart from Ohio in the US can even move individual fingers to play a guitar-based computer game. The chip reads brain signals, which are interpreted by a computer. It then precisely stimulates his muscles with electricity to restore movement. The researchers hope the technology will eventually help millions of people with paralysis, stroke or brain damage. Ian, 24, was seriously injured in a diving accident nearly six years ago. The damage to his spinal cord left messages from his brain unable to reach the rest of his body and he was paralysed below the elbows and left unable to walk. But now he is celebrating the "big shock" of being able to move his hand again after a procedure at Ohio State University. A sensor was implanted inside his brain to read the activity of hundreds of neurons in his motor cortex.

It then took hours of practice to teach a sophisticated computer program how to understand the myriad signals in his brain. Ian also wore a stimulating sleeve with 130 electrodes primed to stimulate and contract different muscles in his right arm. The results, published in the journal Nature, showed he can grasp and move large objects, pour the contents of a glass and even swipe a credit card. Ian described the early sessions as like seven-hour exams that left him "completely and mentally fatigued and exhausted". "You really have to break down each part of that motion and think about it in a more concentrated way. For the first 19 years of my life it was something I definitely took for granted." However, with practice he is learning new movements more quickly.

Ian is now dreaming of regaining the full function of both his hands as "that allows you to be a lot more independent and not have to rely on people for simple day-to-day tasks". The study marks a significant moment in the field of using computers to bypass spinal cord injuries. In 2012, a woman used her own thoughts to control a robotic arm, but now patients can control their own body again. Dr Ali Rezai, the neurosurgeon who implanted the brain chip, said: "We're thrilled that Ian has progressed significantly with this technology. "This really provides hope, we believe, for many patients in the future as this technology evolves and matures to help people who have disabilities from spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury or stroke to allow them to be more functional and more independent."

One of the big challenges for the field will be to turn the spectacular feats in the laboratory into something that can be used in everyday life. The approach requires surgery and then there are lots of trailing and bulky cables. It also needs a large computer to perform the complex algorithms to read the brain. Also Ian's movements are not as deft as natural movement, even if they would have been unthinkable immediately after his accident. However, the motor cortex has millions of neurons and only a few hundred are being read by the chip. It is hoped improvements in the technology will get closer to restoring true full function.

New era

 

[Zoom-boing]

The Six Million Dollar Man becomes reality.

 

[waltky]

Can even play Guitar Hero game...

Device Helps Paralyzed Man Move Hands, Perform Simple Tasks
April 13, 2016 - Doctors have given a paralyzed man some use of his right hand using a computer and electronic sensors.

As a result, Ian Burkhart, 24, can perform simple tasks like holding a bottle, pouring the contents out, picking up a stick and stirring. He can also swipe a credit card, move individual fingers and even hold a toothbrush, according to the Associated Press. He can even play the popular video game, Guitar Hero. But so far those activities have been confined to a laboratory setting, and Burkhart is only able to perform the tasks for a few hours over the course of aweek because he must stay hooked up to a device that “interprets his brain signals and stimulates his muscles with electrodes on his forearm,” the AP reported. "This is taking one's thoughts and, within milliseconds, linking it to concrete movements," said Dr. Ali Rezai, who is a neurosurgeon at Ohio State University, and the author of a study on Burkhart.

Ian Burkhart plays a guitar video game as part of a study with neural bypass technology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.​

The system works through a cable that is attached to a “small projection from his skull.” This carries signals to a computer focused on trying to interpret the task Burkhart is trying to accomplish. From the computer, commands are sent to as many as 160 electrodes on his forearm. Those electrodes stimulate his hand and finger muscles. Burkhart was injured at the age of 19 when he dove head-first into water he thought was deep, hitting his hand on a sandbar and breaking his neck. After the injury, he was unable to move below the shoulders. Doctors told him he’d never walk or be able to use his hands again.

But Burkhart was more optimistic. "I had a feeling after my accident that there would be some improvements in science, technology, and medicine that would improve my quality of life," Burkhart told the website Gizmodo. "I've always been a big fan of technology, and because I was getting therapy at Ohio State, I knew about the kind of work being done there. I just made my interest known, and once the researchers got to a point where they were looking for a test subject, they contacted me. Luckily, I was able to check off all the boxes listing the requirements they were looking for." Turns out his optimism paid off. "The first time moving my hand — that was really just like that flicker of hope," Burkhart told reporters during a media briefing Tuesday.

Ian Burkhart participates in a study with neural bypass technology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. A computer chip in Burkhart's brain reads his thoughts, decodes them, then sends signals to a sleeve on his arm, that allows him to move his hand.​

According to the AP, Burkhart feels a tingle in his arm, but added that his muscles get tired quickly. Additionally, he said practicing using the device was mentally taxing, but that is has "gotten much easier." When learning a new task, Burkhart says"I kind of have to think about it a little bit beforehand, and really think through what I'm trying to accomplish." Burkhart’s story could give hope to others with spinal cord injuries, and researchers say that future iterations of the device might be untethered, allowing more freedom.

Device Helps Paralyzed Man Move Hands, Perform Simple Tasks

 

[miketx]

And the first place his hand goes to?

 

[waltky]

Is amazing what they can do with brain implants nowdays...

Brain implants help paralyzed man drink coffee on his own for 1st time in years
Mar 28, 2017, After years of paralysis, a man was able to pick up a cup of coffee and take a sip, thanks to experimental technology that allowed brain signals to control his arm with the help of a computer.

The researchers at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center documented their work in a new study published today in The Lancet medical journal. The study explains how a special electrical device, including implants in the brain and arm, allowed the man to control the movement of his right hand and arm years after being paralyzed from the shoulders down. Dr. A Bolu Ajiboye, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University and lead study author, explained their patient was the first to have such a high level of paralysis and yet still be able to move his arm via the device called BrainGate2. "He literally cannot do anything on his own," said Ajiboye of the study subject, who was paralyzed eight years before he took part in the study. "With [this] system, he's been able to scratch his nose or be able to take a take a drink of a cup of coffee ... he now has the ability to do things."

To help the unnamed patient, doctors used the experimental neural interface system, BrainGate2, which is being studied in clinical trials at various institutions in the U.S. The system works by using electrical chips in the brain to transmit data to a computer, which then sends electrical signals to the muscles to move. In this case, two small chips were implanted in the man's brain in order to transmit data via a cable to a computer. The researchers also implanted small electrodes in his right arm, so that electrical impulses can cause the muscles to move. In a person with full mobility, a desire to move the arm will result in an electrical signal down the spinal cord to the muscles that will result in the arms moving. The devices recreates that by having the implant "read" data from the patient's brain, which the computer translates into action that is then triggered by electrical signals to implants in the patient's arm. "What we are doing in this project is circumventing the spinal injury by taking [the] pattern of brain activity to directly stimulate the muscles," Ajiboye explained.

Ajiboye said the patient was excited to take part in the study despite the invasive surgery in order to be able to do things for himself again. "He said, 'You know what I really want to [do is] drink coffee,'" Ajiboye recalled. "We showed him drinking through a straw and drink coffee [via the device]." He also has gotten to feed himself and even itch his nose with the device. However, since the device is experimental, the patient can only use it in the lab, but researchers hope to eventually have a device that he can use at home. "He definitely keeps us wanting to innovate," said Ajiboye. "We want to give him more functionality."

Dr. Ben Walter, medical director of the Deep Brain Stimulation Program at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and co-author of the study, said that this is still an early prototype with limitations. For example, the patient can't "feel" what he's holding; instead, he has to visually judge how much force to use in order to pick something up. "In this particular application, he is not sensing the pressure and able to modulate the force based on feedback," Walter explained. "He can see what he's doing, but he can't feel." While experimental, Walter said the implant is still an important move forward and could become much more streamlined in the future. "In this case, he just thinks about moving and he moves," Walter said. "We're really putting things back together the way they're meant to be."

Brain implants help paralyzed man move his hand for 1st time in years