New Device Brings Hope to Paralysis Patients

A long-term study just revealed that a neuroprosthesis device implanted in patients with severe paralysis was able to transmit neural signals from inside a blood vessel in the brain.

“Digital switches controlled by motor intent could translate into a meaningful restoration of motor capability for patients with paralysis and the return of things we take for granted, like texting loves ones or turning on a light,” explains Tom Oxley, M.D., Ph.D., CEO and Founder of Synchron, the company responsible for the creation of the implantable brain-computer interface technologies used in the study.

The study was tested on four participants over a 12-month period. The device implantation showed no serious adverse long-term effects and the signal quality remained stable throughout the year. Each participant was able to successfully control a personal computing device to do tasks such as texting, emailing, personal finance, online shopping, and communication of care needs. The expected number of people that could benefit from this technology is estimated to be 50 million by 2025.