New Device Allows Brain to Bypass Spinal Cord, Move Paralyzed Limbs

For the first time, a paralyzed man can move his fingers and hand with his own thoughts, thanks to a partnership between The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Battelle. Ian Burkhart, a 23-year-old quadriplegic from Dublin, Ohio, is the first patient to use Neurobridge, an electronic neural bypass for spinal cord injuries that reconnects the brain directly to muscles, allowing voluntary and functional control of a paralyzed limb. The Neurobridge technology combines algorithms that learn and decode the user’s brain activity and a high-definition muscle stimulation sleeve that translates neural impulses from the brain and transmits new signals to the paralyzed limb. Paralyzed four years ago during a diving accident, Burkhart is the first of a potential five participants in the six-month, FDA-approved clinical trial. During a three-hour surgery in late April 2014, Ali Rezai, MD, FAANS, implanted a chip smaller than a pea onto the motor cortex of Burkhart’s brain. The tiny chip interprets brain signals and sends them to a computer, which recodes and sends them to the high-definition electrode stimulation sleeve that stimulates the proper muscles to execute his desired movements. Within a tenth of a second, Burkhart’s thoughts are translated into action. To read the full article, click here.