[imagesource: RAJCREATIONZS]

Let’s get a few technical terms out of the way before we check out this breakthrough piece of technology that could vastly improve the lives of people who suffer from paralysis.

Paralysis occurs when someone can’t move certain parts of their body after something goes wrong with the connection of those parts to their brain.

Partial or incomplete paralysis is when you still have some feeling in, and possibly some control over, your paralysed muscles. This is sometimes called paresis.

Motor neuron diseases (MNDs), which the two patients who participated in a new study published in the Journal of Neuro Interventional Surgery were afflicted with, is a condition whereby the motor neurons that control the muscles you use to walk, breathe, speak, and move your limbs, are damaged over time and cannot send signals to certain parts of the body.

The study, and the trial that accompanied it, looked into the viability of Stentrode, a small device implanted through the neck.

Per The Engineer, researchers found that the device was able to restore the transmission of brain impulses out of the body, enabling the patients to complete daily tasks such as online banking, online shopping, and texting.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Professor Peter Mitchell, Neurointervention Service Director and principal investigator on the trial, said that the surgery used to implant the device was an area of concern but went off without a hitch.

“This is the first time an operation of this kind has been done, so we couldn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be problems, but in both cases the surgery has gone better than we had hoped,” Prof Mitchell said in a statement.

The device was implanted through the participants’ blood vessels, next to the brain’s motor cortex, via a ‘keyhole’ incision in the neck.

The result is a breakthrough for brain-computer interfaces, says Associate Professor Thomas Oxley, a neuro interventionalist and CEO of industrial research partner Synchron.

“We are excited to report that we have delivered a fully implantable, take home, wireless technology that does not require open brain surgery, which functions to restore freedoms for people with severe disability,” he said.

The participants underwent machine learning-assisted training to control mouse click actions, including ‘zoom’ and ‘left-click’.

The first two patients are said to have achieved an average click accuracy of 92 per cent and 93 per cent, respectively, and typing speeds of 14 and 20 characters per minute with predictive text disabled.

The video below explains and shows the procedure used to install the device, how it works, and a demo of it in action from the 1:57 mark:

While the technology is some years away from a full rollout, it’s a giant step towards changing the way that people suffering from paralysis are able to interact with the world.

Being able to take control of your life, and complete tasks that most of us take for granted, is invaluable to achieving quality of life.

[source:engineer]