Swiss researchers have created a new spinal implant that promises to help people with Parkinson’s disease overcome problems with walking. The system is still in the testing phase, but a French patient has already received the first implant and regained much of his independence. Now he walks several kilometers alone without falling.
The development is carried out by Onward, a company created on the basis of the prestigious École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). Last May, the same institution unveiled an electronic brain implant that allowed a man with cerebral palsy to walk again. The proposal for patients with Parkinson’s disease is a variant of the same invention.
Researchers have developed a personalized anatomical map of 63-year-old Marc Gauthier’s spinal cord. The patient was diagnosed with degenerative Parkinson’s disease more than 20 years ago. Since then, he has developed significant mobility issues such as balance problems and freezing of his gait.
Analysis of his spinal cord revealed the exact locations that influence the impulses that allow his legs to move. Electrodes were then implanted into these locations so that the stimulation would reach directly to the spine.
Mark wears motion sensors on each leg. When you begin to walk, the implant automatically turns on and begins sending impulses to neurons in the spinal cord. The goal is correct abnormal signals sent from the brain due to disease, down the spine to the legs to restore normal movement.
The following implant tests against Parkinson’s disease
“The machine does not in any way control the patient,” said Professor Eduardo Martin Moreau from the University Hospital of Lausanne. “He’s just improving his ability to walk,” he said. The keeper.
Mark says it’s like being “born again.” “I practically couldn’t walk anymore without falling several times a day. Sometimes, for example, when entering the elevator, I remained standing in the same place, as if I was frozen,” the patient said.
He says that now every Sunday he walks about six kilometers without any problems. “I’m not even afraid of stairs anymore… It’s incredible.” Mark uses the system for about eight hours a day. You only turn it off when you sit or sleep for a long time.
Research published in Natural medicinemade sure that Mark’s gait began to resemble that of healthy people more than that of other Parkinson’s patients. “It’s exciting how, by using electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, just as we did with paraplegics, we can correct gait disturbances caused by Parkinson’s disease,” commented Jocelyn Bloch, neurosurgeon and professor at Lausanne University Hospital. who co-authored the study.
After receiving implantation results in this first patient with Parkinson’s disease, tests were performed on six more people. Since 2015, EPFL has raised approximately $170 million to develop and commercialize medical devices for people living with brain and spinal cord injuries.
Patient with cerebral palsy
Geert-Jan Oskam, a 40-year-old Dutchman, was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him with spinal cord damage. The injury left him paralyzed. Over the course of 12 years, he underwent various treatments to help him regain mobility in his arms, but none of these efforts helped him walk again. AND
The EPFL team has developed a “digital bridge” which made it possible to connect his brain to the spinal cord, bypassing the damaged areas. They used artificial intelligence-based algorithms that ensure that Oskam’s movement intentions are decoded in real time based on brain impulses.
Various scientific institutions have announced other exciting solutions based on advances in artificial intelligence. Kurage, for example, is testing a pants system in Europe based on this technology that helps people with partial paralysis walk.
A woman in the United States who suffered a stroke is communicating again thanks to a digital avatar that broadcasts impulses from an implant in her brain. A team of researchers from the University of California succeeded synthesize speech or facial expressions from brain signals for the first time. Thus, they developed a system that combines neurobiology with artificial intelligence.
Source: Hiper Textual
