A quadriplegic man walks again after a transplant

Gert Jan Oscam A 40-year-old Dutch man. Since 2011, a bike accident has left him with a spinal cord injury and left him paralyzed. Today went again. And he did it thanks to a digital bridge that wirelessly connects his spinal cord to his brain. from here, He regained control of the movement on his legs.

This was reported by the international team of scientists behind the achievement who shared their study in magazine nature This wed. With the bridge, he was not only able to stand on his feet. has also led I carried out more complex movements, such as walking, but also climbing stairs. All of this was made possible by this digital bridge, which required two types of implants.

A bridge between two implants

This project is required Two implants. one falls in brainand the second is a neurostimulator that has been incorporated into Spinal cord oscam. This is located in the area spinal canal Controls the movement of the legs. On the other hand, the other device consists of a series of devices that are placed on the area responsible for controlling the same movements, the movements of the legs.

In this way, it can decode the signals that the brain produces when an organism wants to walk. Thanks to the algorithms On the basis of adaptive artificial intelligence methodsMovement intentions are decoded in real time from brain recordings,” explained Guillaume Charvet, one of the people in charge of the research.

Then these intentions become sequences Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord. At the same time, they activate the corresponding muscles, in this case, the muscles of the legs, to move forward in executing the desired movement. And What gives the patient the independence they have is that this bridge works wirelessly.

New neural connections

The patient since he has this new system, He restored some of the nerve functions that had been lost the time of the accident. Furthermore, the digital repair they performed on the spinal cord, according to the researchers, “suggests that new neural connections have evolved.”.

At the moment, Gert Jan Oskam is working The only person in the world who has access for such treatment. But experts are confident that in the future it could be used in combination with other parts of the body, such as the hands or arms, in other patients. Also, they think so They may be used for other types of clinical indications, such as paralysis caused by stroke.