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Paralyzed Patient Feels Sensation Again

posted by janrinok on Thursday April 12 2018, @03:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the touching-story dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

For the first time, scientists at Caltech have induced natural sensations in the arm of a paralyzed man by stimulating a certain region of the brain with a tiny array of electrodes. The patient has a high-level spinal cord lesion and, besides not being able to move his limbs, also cannot feel them. The work could one day allow paralyzed people using prosthetic limbs to feel physical feedback from sensors placed on these devices.

The research was done in the laboratory of Richard Andersen, James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience, T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center Leadership Chair, and director of the T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center. A paper describing the work appears in the April 10 issue of the journal eLife.

The somatosensory cortex is a strip of brain that governs bodily sensations, both proprioceptive sensations (sensations of movement or the body's position in space) and cutaneous sensations (those of pressure, vibration, touch, and the like). Previous to the new work, neural implants targeting similar brain areas predominantly produced sensations such as tingling or buzzing in the hand. The Andersen lab's implant is able to produce much more natural sensation via intracortical stimulation, akin to sensations experienced by the patient prior to his injury.

The patient had become paralyzed from the shoulders down three years ago after a spinal cord injury. Two arrays of tiny electrodes were surgically inserted into his somatosensory cortex. Using the arrays, the researchers stimulated neurons in the region with very small pulses of electricity. The participant reported feeling different natural sensations -- such as squeezing, tapping, a sense of upward motion, and several others -- that would vary in type, intensity, and location depending on the frequency, amplitude, and location of stimulation from the arrays. It is the first time such natural sensations have been induced by intracortical neural stimulation.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday April 12 2018, @05:21AM (1 child)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 12 2018, @05:21AM (#665759) Journal

    I wonder what has happened with the technique of olfactory and nerve cells transplant to repair sectioned spinal cords [google.com]? Meaning not only the restoration of sensation is possible, but also of function.

    One such article - 2014 [bbc.com]

    A paralysed man has been able to walk again after a pioneering therapy that involved transplanting cells from his nasal cavity into his spinal cord.

    Darek Fidyka, who was paralysed from the chest down in a knife attack in 2010, can now walk using a frame.

    The treatment, a world first, was carried out by surgeons in Poland in collaboration with scientists in London.

    Details of the research are published in the journal Cell Transplantation.

    BBC One's Panorama programme had unique access to the project and spent a year charting the patient's rehabilitation.

    Darek Fidyka, 40, from Poland, was paralysed after being stabbed repeatedly in the back in the 2010 attack.

    He said walking again - with the support of a frame - was "an incredible feeling", adding: "When you can't feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it's like you were born again."
    ...
    Six months after surgery, Mr Fidyka was able to take his first tentative steps along parallel bars, using leg braces and the support of a physiotherapist.

    Two years after the treatment, he can now walk outside the rehabilitation centre using a frame.

    He has also recovered some bladder and bowel sensation and sexual function.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 2) by rondon on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:06PM

    by rondon (5167) on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:06PM (#665923)

    I know, right? Eight years and we haven't seemed to improve on things like this...? Maybe my expectations are too high