GENEVA, Switzerland: Swiss researchers using a nerve-stimulating device controlled by a touchscreen tablet enabled three paraplegic patients to stand and walk.
Reported this week, the device uses electronic implants and artificial intelligence software to help paraplegic patients regain their autonomy, and researchers have found it works well on those with even complete paralysis.
Published in the journal Nature Medicine, the findings proved this particular electrode system works faster than other previous attempts at electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, with improvement being seen within just one day of treatment.
Researchers took a surgically implanted device, called a spinal cord stimulator, and modified the technology.
The three trial patients, all men aged between 29 and 41 who were injured in motorcycle accidents, were able to operate the device on themselves with the help of a touchscreen tablet.
Within six months, they regained the ability to not only walk, but also participate in more advanced activities, such as swimming and cycling.
Grgoire Courtine and Jocelyne Bloch of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, who led the study, helped establish a Netherlands-based technology company called “Onward Medical,” which is working to commercialize the system.
Once the device was implanted, patients could “immediately activate their legs and step,” Bloch said.
But the researchers said because the men’s muscles were weak from disuse, they needed help with weight-bearing, and needed to learn how to work with the technology.
The researchers added that while the patients regained the ability to perform various activities, including controlling their trunk muscles for “extensive periods,” they did not regain natural movements.
“The more they train, the more they start lifting their muscles, the more fluid it becomes. It is not easy and it takes a lot of work, but it is a dream for most people in this group,” Bloch told NBC.
Courtine told Reuters that the company expects to launch a trial in about one year involving 70 to 100 patients, primarily in the United States.
Dr. Eellan Sivanesan, director of neuromodulation at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the new treatment is promising, and she is especially excited about the speed at which the device works.
“Previous attempts at using spinal cord stimulation to restore mobility have been largely labour-intensive and have required months of working with an intensive rehabilitation team,,” she added, as reported by Globalnews.ca.
