Engineers at ETH Zurich have developed a wearable system that helps restore movement and mobility in patients after a stroke. The system consists of a watch that senses movement and earbuds that stimulate nerves to help rewire neural circuits.
After a stroke, disruption of blood flow causes neurons in the brain to die, resulting in a person’s reduced mobility. Depending on the area of the brain affected, people may have problems moving limbs, walking, speaking, grasping or holding objects.
While many treatments focus on minimizing or reversing the damage done to neurons, some take advantage of the brain’s incredible plasticity. It’s about how well the brain can rewire itself and form new connections. Some techniques use drugs to do this, while an increasing number of studies focus on vagus nerve stimulation (VNS).
This technique zaps key nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls unconscious bodily functions like heart rate and digestion, with low-level electrical pulses. VNS has been tested to treat a variety of ailments including epilepsy, depression, chronic indigestion, rheumatoid arthritis, and even aging itself.
Patients often undergo a surgical procedure under general anesthesia to implant a small device that stimulates vague nerves, which is of course quite invasive. It is designed for ease of use by being a detachable wearable device consisting of a watch.
Paulius Viskaitis, co-developer of the system, said:
ETH Zurich / Donegan and Biscaitis
The watch, on the other hand, uses inertial measurement units (IMUs) like those found in smartphones to track the movements of your limbs, telling the earbuds to zap your nerves when it senses movement. The idea is to use reinforcement learning to train the brain to find new ways to perform movements that stroke damage has interrupted. When you move, the resulting electrical pulses strengthen the neural circuits that make that movement possible.
Over time, the brain improves these movements, allowing patients to regain more motor function more quickly and effectively. expects their implants to do the same. Even better, this treatment can be done by the patient themselves, without the need for physician supervision, unlike other stimulation implants.The Smart VNS system stores data about the patient’s progress on their smartphone. It can also be monitored remotely by a physiotherapist in detail.
The team plans to conduct more tests on healthy subjects before starting clinical trials. For more information, check out the (business term heavy) video below.
Earphones speed recovery after stroke
Source: ETH Zurich
