Bionic Prosthesis Must Make Paralyzed Go Again

Modern technology and medicine have come a long way in recent decades. Really far, actually. Diseases that were previously considered incurable can now be cured. Our good health is unprecedented and we are living longer than ever before. In this article we will tell you if a bionic prosthesis should make the lame go again.

Even the quality of life of seriously ill people has been markedly improved. The treatments are now far more effective than they were before.

One of the latest examples of the advances in medical science is a small implant of only 3 cm, which may end up turning the lives of paralyzed patients upside down in the future.

The small “bionic spine”, which has been developed by a group of Australian researchers, is implanted in a blood vessel on the side of the brain and can restore mobility in paralyzed patients by capturing their subconscious thoughts.

A promising technology

The Australian group of researchers comes from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the University of Melbourne and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.

The idea behind the bionic spine is to use unconscious thoughts to control movements.

With such an implant in the brain, a paralyzed patient would be able to control their body with the subconscious. This means that they would not have to make a conscious effort to move. It allows them to move as they wish, just like everyone else.
The bionic spine is implanted by making a small incision in the neck. Here a catheter is inserted with the bionic spine.

The device is transported in the blood vessel to the motor motor cortex, which is the area of ​​the brain responsible for generating the nerve impulses that control the voluntary muscle movements.

After the catheter is removed, the electrodes on the bionic spine adhere to the walls of a vein and begin sending signals directly to the motor cortex.

These signals are sent to another device implanted in the patient’s shoulder and finally to a bionic prosthesis using Bluetooth technology.

The bionic spine does not work immediately, but with time and training, the patient will gradually be able to control his movements unconsciously.

Tried for the first time on humans

The bionic prosthesis has so far only been tested on sheep, but the researchers plan to test the new technology on humans as early as 2017. The initial tests will take place at the Austin Health Spinal Cord Unit, while the operation itself will be performed at Melbourne Royal Hospital in Victoria, Australia.

Three patients have already been selected for the trial. They are all paralyzed in the lower part of their body. After the treatment, their reaction will be carefully analyzed.

Terry O’Brien, head of the hospital’s neurology department, calls the new science the “holy grail” of bionic technology .

Dr. Nicholas Opie, senior researcher and biomedical engineer at the University of Melbourne, says it is a simple but comprehensive procedure.

The hardest part comes after surgery when the patient has to learn to use the subconscious to move the bionic limbs.

This solution does not repair the damaged pathways in the brain. Instead, it uses alternative routes to carry signals to the corresponding paralyzed body part.

“What they do is implant a transmitter to carry the signals needed to move the leg by bypassing the damaged area,” the doctor explains.

The bionic prosthesis is not a new idea and has been a long time coming, but the results of the Australian researchers represent a long-awaited breakthrough.

If the trials in 2017 give good results, it may well be that the same technology can also be used to treat patients with epilepsy, OCD and Parkinson’s.