Brain, spine implants help paralysed man walk again
The brain-spine interface, as the researchers dubbed it, used an artificial intelligence thinking decoder to interpret Oskam's intentions — observable as electrical impulses in his brain — and connect them to muscular movements in the latest study
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Gert-Jan Oskam was living in China in 2011 when he was paralysed from the hips down in a bike accident. Scientists have restored control in his lower body using a variety of devices.
“For 12 years I’ve been trying to get back my feet. Now I have learned how to walk normal, natural,” Oskam said in a press briefing on Tuesday, as reported by the New York Times.
Researchers in Switzerland demonstrated implants that allowed a "digital bridge" between Oskam's brain and spinal cord, bypassing injured regions, in a report published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. Oskam, 40, was able to stand, walk, and scale a steep slope with the use of a walker thanks to the discovery. He has preserved these abilities more than a year after the implant was put and has even shown evidence of neurological healing, walking with crutches even after the device was turned off.
“We’ve captured the thoughts of Gert-Jan, and translated these thoughts into a stimulation of the spinal cord to re-establish voluntary movement,” Grégoire Courtine, a spinal cord specialist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, who helped lead the research, said at the press briefing.
“It was quite science fiction in the beginning for me, but it became true today,” said Jocelyne Bloch, a neuroscientist at the University of Lausanne who placed the implant in Oskam.
The brain-spine interface
Oskam had previously undergone stimulation operations and had even regained some capacity to walk, but his progress eventually plateaued. Oskam stated at the press conference that these stimulation technologies had left him with the impression that there was something strange about his mobility, an unnatural gap between his mind and body.
The brain-spine interface, as the researchers dubbed it, used an artificial intelligence thinking decoder to interpret Oskam's intentions — observable as electrical impulses in his brain — and connect them to muscular movements in the latest study. The aetiology of natural movement was retained, from idea to purpose to action.
The researchers initially implanted electrodes in Oskam's skull and spine to obtain this outcome. The scientists then used a machine-learning programme to see which areas of his brain lighted up when he attempted to move various portions of his body. This thinking decoder was able to correlate the activity of specific electrodes with specific goals.
The researchers then used another algorithm to link the brain implant to the spinal implant, which was programmed to transmit electrical signals to various regions of his body, causing movement. The programme could accommodate for minor differences in the direction and speed of each muscle contraction and relaxation.
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