Fully Implanted Brain-Computer Interface in a Locked-In Patient with ALS
Mariska J Vansteensel, Elmar G M Pels, Martin G Bleichner, Mariana P Branco, Timothy Denison, Zachary V Freudenburg, Peter Gosselaar, Sacha Leinders, Thomas H Ottens, Max A Van Den Boom, Peter C Van Rijen, Erik J Aarnoutse, Nick F Ramsey, Mariska J Vansteensel, Elmar G M Pels, Martin G Bleichner, Mariana P Branco, Timothy Denison, Zachary V Freudenburg, Peter Gosselaar, Sacha Leinders, Thomas H Ottens, Max A Van Den Boom, Peter C Van Rijen, Erik J Aarnoutse, Nick F Ramsey
Abstract
Options for people with severe paralysis who have lost the ability to communicate orally are limited. We describe a method for communication in a patient with late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), involving a fully implanted brain-computer interface that consists of subdural electrodes placed over the motor cortex and a transmitter placed subcutaneously in the left side of the thorax. By attempting to move the hand on the side opposite the implanted electrodes, the patient accurately and independently controlled a computer typing program 28 weeks after electrode placement, at the equivalent of two letters per minute. The brain-computer interface offered autonomous communication that supplemented and at times supplanted the patient's eye-tracking device. (Funded by the Government of the Netherlands and the European Union; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02224469 .).
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Source: PubMed