In 2016, a team of Australian scientists has been able to develop and create a bionic brain implant that allows patients with complete severe paralysis to control the exoskeleton with their thoughts. The information about that development was published in 'Sciences et Avenir'.
This is one of the many innovations developed in recent years to allow paralyzed patients to control their movements with the help of a sophisticated technology that delivers electrical impulses.
The bionic implant is called Stentrode and was created by scientists from the Neuroscience Department of the University of Melbourne.
'Its function resembles a miniature spinal cord', specialists explain.
The implant should allow patients with complete severe paralysis to control external prostheses and exoskeletons.
As early as 2016, the first official results of animal tests were 'satisfactory'. The first testimonies of the Australian team's achievements were published in “Nature Biotechnology”.
In the last year, the implant, measuring 3 millimeters wide and 3 centimeters long, was tested on a control group of volunteers selected by the Royal Hospital and Austin Hospital in Melbourne.
The main direction of the experiment is to make a connection between the brain and the implant, with the ultimate goal of allowing patients to control the movements of the exoskeleton with their thoughts.
The spinal cord transmits information from the cerebrum to the rest of the body and from there to the cerebrum through groups of nerves. This two-way communication allows the brain to control the body and allows the body to send important information to the brain, such as pain and other sensations.
The Stentrode Bionic implant acts as an artificial spinal cord that has the function of redirecting brain signals to the prosthesis.
Patients with paralysis due to severe spinal cord injury still keep brain signals that mediate walking and movement even when, for one reason or another, the signal itself can not be passed along the chain to the limbs.
The principle of the implant is to capture these signals inside a blood vessel above the motor cortex responsible for muscle activity and movement, explains Dr. Christine King, a neurologist at the University of California.
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