Paralysed man regains some movement with his thoughts
THOUGHT-CONTROL TECHNOLOGY has brought a man’s immovable right arm and hand back to life after eight years.
American Bill Kochevar, who was paralysed below his shoulders in a bicycling accident, can now grasp and lift objects.
In one test, he raised a mug of water to his lips and drank from a straw. Another saw him scoop forkfuls of mashed potato from a bowl.
He is believed to be the first person in the world with quadriplegia to have arm and hand movement restored by two kinds of implant.
Electrodes under his skull record the activity of brain neurons to generate signals that tell another device to stimulate muscles in the paralysed limb.
Mr Kochevar, 56, from Cleveland, Ohio, said: “For somebody who’s been injured eight years and couldn’t move, being able to move just that little bit is awesome to me.
“It’s better than I thought it would be.”
A report on his progress appears in the latest issue of The Lancet medical journal. Principal investigator Dr Bob Kirsch, from Case Western Reserve University in the US, said: “He’s really breaking ground for the spinal cord injury community.
“This is a major step toward restoring some independence.”
Mr Kochevar is a participant in the on-going BrainGate2 trial looking at the safety and feasibility of using brain-computer interface systems to help people paralysed by spinal injuries.
Other BrainGate research has demonstrated the “mind control” of cursors on computer screens and robotic arms.
A team of surgeons implanted two pill-sized 96-channel electrode arrays on the surface of the motor cortex region of Mr Kochevar’s brain.
The arrays record brain signals generated by imagined movements of the arm and hand. BrainGate2 clinical principal investigator Dr Benjamin Walter, from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, said: “Every day, most of us take for granted that when we will to move, we can move any part of our body with precision and control in multiple directions and those with traumatic spinal cord injury or any other form of paralysis cannot.”