Three Austrian men became the first humans to undergo a new technique called "bionic reconstruction" which allows them to control a prosthetic hand with their minds.
The patients had been suffering from poor hand function as a result of injuries sustained in motor vehicle and climbing accidents, the Lancet reported. The men showed a high level of restored function after rehabilitation, and had a much easier time performing everyday tasks.
The groundbreaking new medical procedure combines nerve and muscle transfers, elective amputation, and the implantation of a robotic prosthesis.
"In effect, brachial plexus avulsion injuries represent an inner amputation, irreversibly separating the hand from neural control. Existing surgical techniques for such injuries are crude and ineffective and result in poor hand function," said Professor Oskar Aszmann, Director of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Restoration of Extremity Function at the Medical University of Vienna. "The scientific advance here was that we were able to create and extract new neural signals via nerve transfers amplified by muscle transplantation. These signals were then decoded and translated into solid mechatronic hand function."
Before the amputation each patient spent an average of nine months participating in cognitive training to learn to use the electrical signals to control the robotic hand in a virtual environment. Once they had mastered this task, the men moved onto a hybrid hand, which was attached to their non-functioning hand.
Three months following the amputation, all three participants reported a significant improvement in quality of life due to increased motor skills as well as less pain. For the first time since their injuries, the three men were able to perform tasks such as turning a key and cutting food with a knife.
"So far, bionic reconstruction has only been done in our [center] in Vienna. However, there are no technical or surgical limitations that would prevent this procedure from being done in [centers] with similar expertise and resources," Aszmann concluded.
The study's results were published in a recent edition of the Lancet.
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