Prosthesis Gives Amputee Sense of Touch

Stacy Lawrence, writing for Fierce Medical Devices, reports on a Swedish truck driver who is the first in the world to receive a prosthesis that has a direct connection to his bone, nerves and muscle. The prosthesis, called an osseointegrated implant system, responds to the truck driver’s body impulses by means of neuromuscular electrodes.

Doctors amputated the patient’s right arm about ten years ago. Lawrence explained how the prosthesis works. “The technology requires that a titanium implant be surgically inserted into the bone and fixated to it through bone ossification over time. An abutment is then attached to the implant and the prosthesis is attached to it. Electrodes are surgically implanted in nerves and muscles to control the prosthetic system. These electrodes receive signals that are sent via the osseointegrated implant to the prosthesis. Then the signals are converted into motions.”

Max Ortiz Catalan, a research scientist at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology, said, “Reliable communication between the prosthesis and the body has been the missing link for the clinical implementation of neural control and sensory feedback, and this is now in place.” He reports that the patient can now feel his prosthesis, control it and can perceive touch. He can handle delicate activities such as taking eggs from a carton. The researchers believe that this technology may be the missing link for enabling sophisticated neural interfaces to control sophisticated prostheses.