Image courtesy of Onward.
A long-term Parkinson’s disease (PD) patient who had severe mobility problems can now walk fluidly without falling thanks to a new experimental spinal implant that stimulates the user’s leg muscles. Marc, 63, has been living with advanced PD since 1996. Dopamine and then deep brain stimulation, which he underwent in 2004, helped treat his tremors and stiffness. But he also developed severe walking difficulties, including balance impairments and freezing of gait.
He received the neuroprosthesis, which comprises an electrode field placed against his spinal cord, at Lausanne University Hospital. Combined with an electrical impulse generator under the skin of his abdomen, the device delivers electric pulses to his spinal cord to activate his leg muscles. The patient wears a movement sensor on each leg and when walking is initiated the implant automatically switches on and begins delivering pulses of stimulation to the spinal neurons. The aim is to correct abnormal signals that are sent from the brain, down the spine, to the legs to restore normal movement.
The implant is yet to be tested in a full clinical trial. But the Franco-Swiss team, who have a longstanding program to develop brain-machine interfaces to overcome paralysis, hope that their technology could offer an entirely new approach to treating movement deficits in those with PD. The team plans to carry out clinical tests on 6 new patients next year. The “proof of concept” would require at least 5 years of development and testing to perfect the technology.
