- The paraplegic Gert-Jan Oskam can walk again thanks to a Lausanne implant.
- He can control movements with his thoughts.
- The research team published the evidence in the renowned journal “Nature”.
The researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) implanted two different systems in the 40-year-old guinea pig. On the one hand, two implants in the cranial vault, on the other hand, electrodes in the spinal cord.
Dutchman Gert-Jan Oskam has been paralyzed in his legs since a bicycle accident twelve years ago. Thanks to the implants, he can now stand, walk and even climb stairs with the help of a walker or crutches, but with limitations, but independently. “It feels good to be able to stand up again,” Oskam said at the presentation of the new study. “Because it’s good for my body and, above all, it prevents back pain.”
I can walk about 200 meters, then I get tired. I can stand for two or three minutes without using my hands.
Oskam: «Last week I had to paint something in the house and there was no one who could help me. So I took the walker and did it myself. Standing.” He can walk about 200 meters, then he gets tired. He can stand for two to three minutes without using his hands.
Oskam explained that he once again enjoys having a beer with friends at a bar: “That simple joy is a big change in my life.”
control over thoughts
According to the authors of the study, the implants in the spinal cord and brain communicate through a kind of “digital bridge”. A spinal cord injury can interrupt communication between the brain and the area of the spinal cord that controls walking, leading to paralysis. The so-called Brain-Spine Interface (BSI) restores this communication.
The skull implants measure brain activity with 64 electrodes. Based on this data, an artificial intelligence calculates the desired movement and translates it into stimulation commands, which are transmitted wirelessly to the 16-electrode electrode array in the spinal cord. The electrodes stimulate the so-called motor neurons and activate the muscles in a targeted way.
The Lausanne team developed the device in the spinal cord about five years ago and tested it on several patients. Until now, however, the command to walk had to be entered via a tablet. According to the authors of the study, controlling with thoughts makes movements more fluid and natural.
false hope warning
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Despite the success of the Lausanne team, independent researchers caution against false hope. “As always with such spectacular individual reports, it is not possible to find a solution for other affected people,” said Winfried May of the Austrian Society for Biomedical Engineering at the Science Media Center. The symptoms of paraplegia in the case of spinal cord injury and therefore the prospects for restoring movement control with or without the use of technical aids are very different.
“Similar improvements will be possible for some patients, but not for many. In each individual case, invasiveness, effort and risks must always be weighed against the achievable benefit.”
“A new era”
“The concept of a digital bridge between the brain and spinal cord heralds a new era in the treatment of motor deficits due to neurological disorders,” the scientists wrote in the study. A similar strategy can also be used to restore arm and hand function in the future.
The concept of a digital bridge between the brain and spinal cord heralds a new era in the treatment of motor deficits due to neurological disorders.
The Lausanne researchers now want to make BSI available worldwide as quickly as possible. According to a press release from CHUV, they received support from the European Innovation Council (EIC) to develop a commercial version of the digital bridge.