Gert-Jan Oskamu walking with the help of brain and spine implants and a backpack computer
CHUV 2022/Weber Jill
A paralyzed Dutch man who broke his neck is now able to walk with crutches after undergoing treatment with implants that send signals from his brain to his spine through a computer in his backpack.
Gert Jan Oskam, 40, is now able to stand up from a sitting position, climb upstairs and walk outdoors on uneven ground. “When you think about it, it immediately inspires you.” [taking] It’s a step,” he says.
Oskamu also found that he could walk short distances using the wheeled walker even when the device was turned off. Grégoire Courtin of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), who developed the technique, and his colleagues suspect that this is because the repetitive motion stimulated the regrowth of nerve cells in the spine.
The brain implants are housed within two 5-centimeter discs placed on the surface of the brain, replacing two circles of bone taken from the skull. These communicate wirelessly with a helmet-like receiver that sends signals to a computer in the backpack. The computer then sends signals to a stimulator inserted into Oscam’s spinal cord, causing movement in the leg muscles.
The system is an upgrade from the first version Mr. Oscam received five years ago, which included only spinal electrodes. In this version, Oscam activated each step with a small movement of his heel, which was possible because his spinal cord had not been completely severed by the accident. Heel movement was detected by a lightweight motion sensor, which caused the spinal implant to trigger semi-automatic stepping movements coordinated by a network of neurons in the lower spinal cord.
As a result, Mr. Oscam was able to walk on flat ground using a wheeled walker. “This allowed for robot-like stepping motion,” says Cortin.
For 2021, Oskam received a brain implant upgrade. Within minutes of the surgery he was able to walk and move more naturally. “He can adjust when to turn on the stimulation and how much, which makes the movement very smooth,” says another member of the team, Guillaume Charvet, from the University of Grenoble-Alpes in France. say.
“Before, my stimuli controlled me, but now my thoughts control my stimuli,” says Oscam.
According to EPFL team member Henri Lorak, the brain-controlled system also leads to different movements of the hips, knees and ankles. “He has access to multiple functions.”
So far, a total of nine people have had only spinal implants and, like Oscam, keep their legs slightly moving or control their movements by pressing a button on their walker. Some may be upgraded.
The team also approves using the same approach to restore arm motion in people who are paralyzed from the neck down.
“It’s a beautiful piece of work,” says Zubair Ahmed of the University of Birmingham, UK. “The cool thing about this is that it brings a lot of technology together.”
But the system is still in the early stages of development and would be too expensive for widespread use in other people with spinal cord injuries, he says.
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