“Seeing my legs move was exciting”. This had not happened to Michel Roccati, a thirty-year-old Italian, for 4 years now. After a serious motorcycle accident he was paralyzed. Then in 2020 thanks to a new technology that was implanted in him, controlled by artificial intelligence, he was back on his feet. An electrode stimulates his damaged marrow with electrical impulses. And now Michel can also walk for a kilometer, he can stand for two hours, and together with 2 other patients he has become the protagonist of a first forensics. He went through intense training after the implant. And like him the other patients involved in the project. Among them there are those who have even returned to swim again. The technology that made this possible, according to the results of a study published in ‘Nature Medicine’, is able to restore movement in a few hours.
The implants, made at the Polytechnic University of Lausanne, stimulate the area of the spinal cord which activates the muscles of the torso and legs, allowing patients with complete paralysis to walk. Thorough training is required to become familiar with using the system, but patients select the desired activity on a tablet-like device that sends a message to another pacemaker-like device.
Further research on how this technology could be used for other types of neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, is expected to be published soon, announces Gregoire Courtine, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, who co-directed the study. The three ‘pioneer’ patients – aged between 29 and 41 – underwent training based on stimulation programs and were able to regain muscle mass, move more independently and participate in social activities such as having a drink standing up at the bars, experts explain.
“All three patients were able to stand, walk, pedal, swim and control torso movements in a single day.after their implants have been activated, “explains Courtine. The researchers say that now that they have the knowledge and technology to ‘talk’ to the spinal cord, they will use all of this to address as many issues as possible, including stimulation of the bladder, arms and hands. “This is thanks to the specific stimulation programs we have written for each type of activity – specifies the expert – Patients can select the desired activity on the tablet and the corresponding protocols are transmitted to the pacemaker in the abdomen. “The next step, he adds,” is a mini computer implanted in the body that communicates in real time with an external iPhone. “
Scientists say that while the gains that can be achieved in a single day are astonishing, the gains after several months are even more so. Because the technology is miniaturized, patients can perform their training exercises outdoors and not just inside a laboratory. In 2018, the story of David Mzee, who was paralyzed after a sports accident, ended up in the media spotlight. The man got out of his wheelchair and started walking with the help of a walker. This was the first proof, the Swiss researchers point out, that the system could work effectively in patients. The current project involves the implantation of electrodes in the spinal cord, but these electrodes are larger than the other one used previously and would allow access to more muscles, to those of the legs, but also of the trunk.
“At the beginning it was not all perfect – says neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch of the university hospital of Lausanne – but with the training they soon had a fluid pace, and were able to walk even outside the laboratory”. Specialists say they expect the technology to work in both men and women, and although age can affect patients’ response to therapy, there is no reason to rule out paralyzed older people. However, there must be enough healthy spinal cord (6 cm) for the electrodes to be implanted, so this may rule out some people.
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