Research in technology for helping people with missing limbs continues with the development of prostheses that amputees can control using their minds.
The first to try this new tech out is a truck driver in Sweden who had his right arm removed 10 years ago, according to CNET. He received the prosthetic in January of last year, and can now connect it directly to his bones, muscles, and nerves.
Max Ortiz Catalan, research scientist at Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology and lead author of the study, said his team made this human-tech bond by using osseointegration, a process in which a titanium implant is surgically fixed into the patient's bone. Doctors then fixed an extension to the implant so they could attach to the prosethetic, and then implanted electrodes directly into the user's nerves and muscles. The electrodes read signals sent from the brain, and the signals are translated into movements that the arm can perform.
The Chalmers University teamed worked on the procedure with researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who created a device that looks like a cuff and fits around the arm's major nerve bundles, giving the wearer the ability to feel different points in the arm, Discovery News reported.
Computer algorithms were used to turn sensory input from an object taped to the patient's prosthetic hand into patterns of electric signals. These patterns traveled through the cuffs and were brought to the brain by the nerves. The sensors are capable of identifying different levels of pressure when the patient holds an object, as one patient, in one instance, was able to recognize that the object he was holding was a cotton ball.
The surgery has allowed the Swedish amputee to perform different tasks in his job, such as operating machinery and securing loads in his trailer, CNET reported. He is also now able to handle eggs, tie his children's skate laces, and perform other everyday tasks.
The researchers will now focus on bringing feeling to the prosthetic so implanted electrodes in the nerves can send information from the prosthetic to the brain.
"So far we have shown that the patient has a long-term stability to perceive touch in different locations in the missing hand," Ortiz Catalan said. "Intuitive sensory feedback and control are crucial for interacting with the environment, for example to reliably hold an object despite disturbances or uncertainty. Today, no patient walks around with a prosthesis that provides such information, but we are working towards changing that in the very short term."
The teams' research was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
