Greater independence
Researchers also recorded signal fidelity and stability over 12 months and use of the brain-computer interface to perform routine tasks. All participants learned to use the motor neuro-prostheses with eye tracking for computer use. Eye tracking technology helps a computer determine what a person is looking at.
Using the system, patients were able to complete tasks without help. These included text messaging and managing finances. “Since the device is fully implanted and easy for patients to use, they can use the technology independently and in their own home,” said Dr. Weber.
Although the study started with patients with ALS, those paralyzed from other causes, such as an upper spinal cord injury or brain-stem stroke could also benefit from this technology, Dr. Weber said. In addition, the technology could be expanded to broaden brain communication capabilities potentially to include robotic limbs, he said.
There’s even the potential to use this minimally invasive brain interface technology to deliver therapies like deep brain stimulation, which Dr. Weber noted is a growing field. “It’s [the] early days, but it’s a very exciting new direction for brain interface technology,” he said.
Researchers are now recruiting patients for the first U.S.-based feasibility trial of the device that will be funded by the NIH, said Dr. Weber. A limitation of the research was the study’s small size.
Advancing the field
Reached for a comment, Kevin C. Davis, an MD and PhD student in the department of biomedical engineering, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said this new work moves the field forward in an important way.
Dr. Davis and colleagues have shown the effectiveness of another technology used to overcome paralysis – a small portable system that facilitates hand grasp of a patient with a spinal cord injury. He reported on this DBS-based BCI system at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) 2021 Annual Meeting.
Developing effective brain-computer interfaces, and motor neural prosthetics that avoid surgery, as the team did in this new study, is “worth exploring,” said Dr. Davis.
However, although the device used in this new study avoids cranial surgery, “sole vascular access may limit the device’s ability to reach other areas of the brain more suitable for upper-limb motor prosthetics,” he said.
“Determining how much function such a device could provide to individuals with locked-in syndrome or paralysis will be important in determining its viability as an eventual clinical tool for patients.”
The study was supported by Synchron, the maker of the device, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Australian Federal Government Foundation, and the Motor Neuron Disease Research Institute of Australia.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.