Jakarta –
A 40-year-old man who was paralyzed for 12 years is finally able to climb stairs, move up an incline and walk again thanks to a brain implant, spinal cord surgery.
Gert-Jan Oskam experienced this miraculous condition, who suffered a spinal injury in a motorcycle accident 12 years ago.
“When we met him, he was completely paralyzed, unable to take steps on his own without assistance,” Grégoire Courtine, study author and neurologist at EPFL, a research university in Switzerland, told NBC News.
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In 2017, Oskam received an experimental implant in his spinal cord as part of a different clinical trial, which helped him regain his ability to walk. By slightly lifting his heels, Oskam would trigger an electric current that stimulated the nerves in his spinal cord so he could take a step.
But the steps were clunky, and he couldn’t get over obstacles or walk on uneven surfaces.
“I feel a little bit stressed with every step, like I have to get into a rhythm, otherwise I won’t be making good strides,” said Oskam.
After two years of electrical nerve stimulation, Oskam’s recovery was stagnant. So he joined the proof of concept study in 2021.
This system differs from existing technology in its ability to translate brain signals into movement. Electronic implants in the brain transmit his thoughts to his legs and feet via a second implant in his spine.
The development of this technology, published in the scientific journal Nature, was led by a team of researchers in Switzerland. Prof Jocelyne Bloch from the University of Lausanne, the neurosurgeon who performed the complex operation to insert the implant, stressed that the system is still in the basic research stage and will need many more years to be available to paralyzed patients.
“What’s important for us is not just to do a scientific trial, but ultimately to provide more access to more people with spinal cord injuries, who usually hear from doctors that they may never move again,” Prof Jocelyne told the BBC.
2023-07-04 01:01:33
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