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From: * [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of NIH OLIB (NIH/OD)
Sent: May 16, 2012 14:24
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Subject: PARALYZED INDIVIDUALS USE THOUGHT-CONTROLLED ROBOTIC ARM TO REACH
AND GRASP
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
NIH News National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
<http://www.ninds.nih.gov/> Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) <http://www.nichd.nih.gov/>
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
<http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/> National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and
Bioengineering (NIBIB)<http://www.nibib.nih.gov/ Embargoed for Release:
Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 1 p.m. EDT
CONTACT: Daniel Stimson, NINDS, 301- 496-5751,
<e-mail:[log in to unmask]>
PARALYZED INDIVIDUALS USE THOUGHT-CONTROLLED ROBOTIC ARM TO REACH AND GRASP
NIH-funded study shows progress in brain-computer interface technology
In an ongoing clinical trial, a paralyzed woman was able to reach for and
sip from a drink on her own -- for the first time in nearly 15 years - by
using her thoughts to direct a robotic arm. The trial, funded in part by
the National Institutes of Health, is evaluating the safety and feasibility
of an investigational device called the BrainGate neural interface system.
This is a type of brain-computer interface (BCI) intended to put robotics
and other assistive technology under the brain's control.
A report published today in Nature describes how two individuals -- both
paralyzed by stroke -- learned to use the BrainGate system to make
reach-and-grasp movements with a robotic arm, as part of the BrainGate2
clinical trial. The report highlights the potential for long-term use and
durability of the BrainGate system, part of which is implanted in the brain
to capture the signals underlying intentional movement. It also describes
the most complex functions to date that anyone has been able to perform
using a BCI.
For the woman, it was the first time since her stroke that she was able to
sip a drink without help from a caregiver.
"The smile on her face was a remarkable thing to see. For all of us
involved, we were encouraged that the research is making the kind of
progress that we had all hoped," said the trial's lead investigator, Leigh
Hochberg, M.D., Ph.D., who is an associate professor of engineering at Brown
University in Providence, R.I. and a critical care neurologist at
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School in Boston.
"Years after the onset of paralysis, we found that it was still possible to
record brain signals that carry multi-dimensional information about movement
and that those signals could be used to move an external device," Dr.
Hochberg said.
He noted that the technology is years away from practical use and that the
trial participants used the BrainGate system under controlled conditions in
their homes with a technician present to calibrate it.
The BrainGate neural interface system consists of a sensor to monitor brain
signals and computer software and hardware that turns these signals into
digital commands for external devices. The sensor is a baby aspirin-sized
square of silicon containing 100 hair-thin electrodes, which can record the
activity of small groups of brain cells. It is implanted into the motor
cortex, a part of the brain that directs movement.
"This technology was made possible by decades of investment and research
into how the brain controls movement. It's been thrilling to see the
technology evolve from studies of basic neurophysiology and move into
clinical trials, where it is showing significant promise for people with
brain injuries and disorders," said Story Landis, Ph.D., director of NIH's
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The
institute funds BCI research in hopes of restoring function and improving
quality of life for people coping with limb amputations or paralysis from
spinal cord injury, stroke or neuromuscular disorders.
NIH has supported basic and applied research in this area for more than 30
years. In 2009 and 2010, an additional $3.8 million in NIH funding was made
possible through the Recovery Act.
The latest analysis from the BrainGate2 trial focused on two participants --
a 58-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man. Both individuals are unable to
speak or move their limbs because of brainstem strokes they had years ago --
the woman's in 1996 and the man's in 2006. In the trial, both participants
learned to perform complex tasks with a robotic arm by imagining the
movements of their own arms and hands.
In one task, several foam targets were mounted on levers on a tabletop and
programmed to pop up one at a time, at different positions and heights. The
participants had less than 30 seconds to grasp each target using the DEKA
Arm System (Generation 2), which is designed to work as a prosthetic limb
for people with arm amputations. One participant was able to grasp the
targets 62 percent of the time, and the other had a 46 percent success rate.
In some sessions, the woman controlled a DLR Light-Weight Robot III arm,
which is heavier than the DEKA arm and designed to be used as an external
assistive device. She used this arm prior to the DEKA arm in the foam
target task, and had a success rate of 21 percent. In other sessions with
the DLR arm, her task was to reach for a bottled drink, bring it to her
mouth and sip from a straw. She was able to complete four out of six
attempts.
This is not the first glimmer of hope from human BCI research. Participants
in the BrainGate trial and other studies have also used BCI technology to
perform point-and-click actions with a computer cursor, a level of control
that has been used for communication.
"This is another big jump forward to control the movements of a robotic arm
in three-dimensional space. We're getting closer to restoring some level of
everyday function to people with limb paralysis," said John Donoghue, Ph.D.,
who leads the development of BrainGate technology and is the director of the
Institute for Brain Science at Brown University.
Dr. Donoghue said the woman's ability to use the BrainGate was especially
encouraging because her stroke occurred nearly 15 years ago and her sensor
was implanted more than five years ago. Some researchers have wondered
whether neurons in the motor cortex might die or stop generating meaningful
signals after years of disuse. Researchers in the field have also worried
that years after implantation, the sensor might break down and become less
effective at enabling complex motor functions.
Roderic Pettigrew, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIH's National Institute of
Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), which supports the research,
indicated that the technology is promising, but at present is still
undergoing development and evaluation. "The researchers have begun the
long, difficult process of testing and refining the system with feedback
from patients, and they've found that it is possible for a person to
mentally control a robotic limb in three-dimensional space. This represents
a remarkable advance," he said.
As the trial continues, the BrainGate research team needs to test the
technology in more individuals, they said. They envision a system that would
be stable for decades, wireless and fully automated. For now, the sensor -
and therefore the user - must be connected via cables to the rest of the
system. Prior to each session with the robotic arms, a technician had to
perform a calibration procedure that lasted 31 minutes on average.
Improvements are also needed to enhance the precision and speed of control.
In the foam target task, for example, a successful reach-and-grasp motion
typically took almost 10 seconds.
The ultimate goal for helping people with paralysis is to reconnect the
brain directly to paralyzed limbs rather than robotic ones, the researchers
said. In the future, the BrainGate system might be used to control a
functional electrical stimulation (FES) device, which delivers electrical
stimulation to paralyzed muscles. Such technology has shown promise in
monkeys. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and
Human Development (NICHD) has long supported the clinical trial research for
BrainGate, with the goal of enabling mental control of an FES system for
limb movement. In previous reports from the BrainGate2 trial, a participant
was able to use the BrainGate system to direct the movements of a virtual,
computer-animated arm designed to simulate FES control of a real arm.
To support this research, NIH has worked closely with the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), the research arm of the Department of Defense. DARPA supports
development of the DEKA arm. Development of the DLR arm is funded by the
German aerospace agency DLR. NIH has supported the fundamental neuroscience
and BCI development, and the clinical research in collaboration with the VA.
Drs. Hochberg and Donoghue hold research positions with the Providence VA
Medical Center.
Dr. Donoghue is supported by a Javits Neuroscience Investigator award
(NS025074) from NINDS, and by a grant (EB007401) from NIBIB and NICHD. The
research is also supported by contracts (HD53403, HD100018) from NICHD's
National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research to Robert Kirsch, Ph.D.,
at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. Additional support came from
an NIH Challenge grant (HD063931) to Dr. Donoghue and a grant (DC009899)
from the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders
(NIDCD) to Dr. Hochberg, which were funded all or in part through the
Recovery Act.
The BrainGate trial began in 2004 and was run by Cyberkinetics Inc., in
collaboration with Brown University and MGH. NICHD began funding the trial
in 2005. After Cyberkinetics withdrew from the research for financial
reasons, funding continued through this NICHD contract, MGH became the
clinical trial and administrative lead, and the trial was renamed
BrainGate2. The trial is currently recruiting. For more information,
visit: <http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00912041> or
<http://www.braingate2.org>.
NIBIB <http://www.nibib.nih.gov> is dedicated to improving health by
bridging the physical and biological sciences to develop and apply new
biomedical technologies.
NICHD <http://www.nichd.nih.gov> sponsors research on development, before
and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology
and population issues; and medical rehabilitation.
NIDCD <http://www.nidcd.nih.gov> supports and conducts research and research
training on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste,
smell, voice, speech and language and provides health information, based
upon scientific discovery, to the public.
NINDS <http://www.ninds.nih.gov> is the nation's leading funder of research
on the brain and nervous system. The NINDS mission is to reduce the burden
of neurological disease - a burden borne by every age group, by every
segment of society, by people all over the world.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical
research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal
agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical
research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs,
visit <www.nih.gov>.
NIH...Turning Discovery into Health
------------------------------
REFERENCE: Hochberg LR et al. "Reach and grasp by people with tetraplegia
using a neurally controlled robotic arm." Nature, May 17, 2012, Vol. 485,
pp. 372-375.
-----------------------
The activities described in this release are funded in part through the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. More information about NIH's
Recovery Act grant funding opportunities can be found at
<http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/>. To track the progress of HHS activities
funded through the Recovery Act, visit http://www.hhs.gov/recovery. To track
all federal funds provided through the Recovery Act, visit
<http://www.recovery.gov>.
----------------
The html version of this release contains an still image
<http://www.ninds.nih.gov/img/robotic_arm.jpg> taken from a video from the
BrainGate2 clinical trial, linking to:<http://youtu.be/QRt8QCx3BCo>.
##
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