The company behind the BrainGate Neural Interface System, covered in an earlier post, reports positive results from the pilot study:
The poster, titled “Feasibility Study of the BrainGate™ Neural Interface System for Individuals with Quadriplegia,” includes preliminary data from one patient with a three-year-old spinal cord injury. The reported results were recorded over a six-month period. The surgery to implant the BrainGate sensor was performed in June 2004 at Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, R.I. …
The signal processing function of the BrainGate System was confirmed by its ability to reliably detect, transmit and analyze brain (neural) signals from the area of the brain that controls the movement of the hand and arm. Subsequent to the implant procedure, the patient was immediately able to send signals from this part of his brain in a controllable and meaningful fashion in response to directional commands even though he had not moved his arm in over three years due to a spinal cord injury. This capability has been maintained over a six-month period, and is continuing. A system has been developed to generate cursor control from these neural signals, enabling the patient to perform tasks and operate basic computer functions in numerous trials. The patient’s control of the cursor was immediate and intuitive, and the patient was able to perform tasks while speaking and moving his head, without disruption.
These results are preliminary and represent the early outcomes from a single patient.
More at Cyberkinetics…