Sargent Rehabilitation Center announced that the Center’s rehabilitation consultant, Jon Mukand, M.D., Ph.D., will present preliminary clinical results of a device designed to increase the independence of individuals with quadriplegia.
Sargent Rehabilitation Center in Warwick is the first clinical site initiated by Cyberkinetics.
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These pilot results will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Phoenix, Arizona. In the study, a patient who is unable to use his hands or arms due to a spinal cord injury was able to control a computer, using his thoughts and the BrainGate(TM) Neural Interface System, the company reported Friday.
“While these results are preliminary, I am encouraged that the first study participant has been able to both control a computer cursor and perform useful tasks with the system,” said Jon Mukand, M.D., Ph.D., the investigator for the study based at Sargent Rehabilitation Center. “If this study is successful, the BrainGate System could potentially give paralyzed individuals an unprecedented level of independence with everyday activities such as typing, maneuvering wheelchairs, and operating other computerized systems such as environmental controls, robotics, and the internet.”
The first participant in the study, Mr. Matthew Nagle, a patient of New England Sinai Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Stoughton, Mass. said in the past few weeks, he has been able to control his TV using a computer cursor that moves with his thoughts, saying “The Brain Gate has changed my life.”
The device used in the study is called the BrainGate(TM) Neural Interface System. The investigational BrainGate System provided by Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc., the sponsor of the study, is an outgrowth of research conducted in the lab of Dr. John Donoghue, Ph.D., Chairman of Neuroscience at Brown University, as well as other researchers.
The System converts neural signals into an output signal under the person’s own control.
An approximately three-hour surgery was conducted to implant the sensor portion of the BrainGate on the surface of the brain where thoughts of hand and arm movement originate. After three weeks of post-surgical recovery, the patient began using the BrainGate System where he lives, at New England Sinai Medical Center, the company reports.
The ongoing pilot study will enroll up to five individuals who are unable to use the arms and legs and meet other requirements of the study. The study is expected to last for about 13 months for each patient, who will perform tasks with the device. At the end of the study, each patient will undergo another surgery to have the device removed or may have the option to participate in future studies.
The Principal Investigator, Dr. Jon Mukand is also on the faculty of Brown University, Boston University and Tufts University. The surgery to implant the sensor was conducted at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence by Gerhard M. Friehs, M.D., Ph.D., director of functional neurosurgery and associate professor of clinical neurosciences at Brown Medical School.
