Support: NIH 1R01HD077220 NIH N01-HD-5-3403 Office of Research and Development, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Department of Veterans Affairs (B6453R, A6779I) NICHD (R01HD077220) NIDCD (R01DC009899) MGH-Deane Institute The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health, or the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
Authors: *B. AJIBOYE1,2, F. WILLET1,2, D. YOUNG1,2, W. MEMBERG1,2, B. MURPHY1,2, J. MILLER3, J. SWEET3, B. WALTER4, J. SIMERAL5,6, L. HOCHBERG5,6,8,9,7, R. KIRSCH1,2; 1Biomed. Engin., Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH; 2FES Ctr. of Excellence, Rehab. R&D Service, Louis Stokes Cleveland Dept. of Veterans Affairs Med. Ctr., Cleveland, OH; 3Neurosurg., 4Neurol., Univ. Hosp. Case Med. Ctr., Cleveland, OH; 5Center. for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Rehab. R&D Service, Providence Dept. of Veterans Affairs Med. Ctr., Providence, RI; 6Sch. of Engin., 7Inst. for Brain Sci., Brown Univ., Providence, RI; 8Dept. of Neurol., Massachusetts Gen. Hosp., Boston, MA; 9Dept. of Neurol., Harvard Med. Sch., Boston, MA
Disclosures: B. Ajiboye: None. F. Willet: None. D. Young: None. W. Memberg: None. B. Murphy: None. J. Miller: None. J. Sweet: None. B. Walter: None. J. Simeral: None. L. Hochberg: None. R. Kirsch: None.
A. Bolu Ajiboye, Ph.D.
Direct cortical control of hand and arm neuroprostheses has long been posited as a key achievement for intracortical brain-computer-interfaces (iBCIs). As part of the Braingate2 Pilot Clinical Trial, Case Western Reserve University / University Hospitals (Cleveland, OH) is investigating the use of iBCIs to control Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) neuroprostheses for restoring arm and hand movements to persons with chronic high cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). One individual with C4 level SCI was implanted with two 96-channel microelectrode arrays in the precentral gyrus. The participant has demonstrated robust modulation of single-unit and high frequency spike power (> 300 Hz) sufficient to achieve, using a virtual anthropomorphic limb in stereoscopic space, two and three dimensional control of the wrist position, four dimensional control of the shoulder and elbow joints, and one or two dimensional control of pronation/supination, wrist flexion/extension, and hand aperture. We subsequently implanted 16 percutaneous fine-wire electrodes into the contralateral upper extremity for direct stimulation of muscles of the arm and hand. To enhance muscle resistance to fatigue, we implemented preprogrammed FES exercises patterns for whole hand grasping (lateral grip), elbow flexion/extension, and shoulder horizontal flexion/extension. During FES exercise, expected channel-specific stimulation artifact was observed on the cortical electrodes. We utilized multiple strategies for reducing and/or eliminating the stimulation artifact, including blanking, signal post-processing, and varying the size and location (including surface vs. percutaneous) of the anode. The participant demonstrated cortical control of the percutaneous FES system in performing a grasp force tracking task, as well as cued single-joint and multi-joint arm reaches. These early indicators of success pave the way for a fully implanted iBCI+FES system to restore complete arm movements to persons with chronic paralysis due to high cervical SCI.
SPINAL CORD INJURY RESEARCH AND SCIENCE 