In a prosthetic breakthrough, a person who lost an arm above the elbow has turn out to be the world’s first amputee to freely control all five fingers of his bionic hand, because of latest surgical and engineering innovations by researchers in Sweden.

A bionic hand is an electromechanical device attached to the body of an amputee that replicates the functionality of a natural arm or hand. The robotic device is normally connected to the remnant muscles within the residual limb in order that the electrical activity generated by the contractions allows the amputee to regulate the movements at their will.

Nonetheless, in individuals with higher amputation levels, akin to above the elbow, not many muscles remain to send the signals to the robotic joint.

A gaggle of researchers from the Centre for Bionics and Pain Research in Sweden, led by Professor Max Ortiz Catalan, has now found an answer to the issue. The team found that as signals in remnant muscles are too weak, splitting the nerves severed through amputation and rerouting them to latest muscle targets can enable a patient to have higher control.

“A multidisciplinary team of surgeons and engineers has circumvented this problem by reconfiguring the residual limb and integrating sensors and a skeletal implant to attach with a prosthesis electrically and mechanically,” the researchers said in a press release.

The residual limb of an amputee from Sweden, identified by his first name Tonney, was reconfigured based on this surgical innovation. The 54-year-old man can now perform on a regular basis tasks. Researchers claim that the brand new development allows individuals with arm amputation to regulate each finger of a bionic hand, exactly as if it were their very own.

“We manage to extract an unprecedented amount of motor neural information by surgically creating electro-neuromuscular structures within the residual limb, that are then interfaced with the prosthesis using a neuromusculoskeletal interface (connection to nerves, muscles and skeleton). We then use AI algorithms to decode the intention of movement using all of the available neural information,” Catalan told Medical Each day.

It’s estimated that greater than 2.1 million people within the U.S. live with limb loss and the number is predicted to double by 2050. The researchers imagine the breakthrough innovation offers latest hope and possibilities for individuals with amputations worldwide.

“The surgical and engineering developments we present on this study bring an unprecedented level of control over bionic prosthesis. It’s the mixture of surgical and engineering approaches that the patient can use in his each day life,” Catalan said.

The professor believes the seamless integration between man and machine is the longer term of bionics. “We use bionics to revive impaired function and that is our focus. We’ve got achieved this by creating ever higher integration between man and machine. This appears to be the longer term of bionics, more intimate and functional integration between the person and the assistive device,” Catalan added.

Published by Medicaldaily.com