Thanks to an implant in the braina man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis managed to communicate. His first requests are rather amazing and surprised the medical body in charge of his case.
What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?
Science can truly work miracles. As of this writing, nearly 150,000 people worldwide (including 6,000 in France) suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Charcot’s disease. It’s about a progressive muscle paralysis, leading in most cases, affected patients to lose all means of communication. A new ALS case study has just demonstrated that brain-based voluntary communication can work. Researchers at the Geneva-based Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering have just made an incredible discovery. Since 2018, this team has been working with a 36-year-old patient with ALS. This person could only move their eyes up and down or side to side to communicate with its third parties. Now, thanks to an implant implanted in his brain, the test subject can converse in thought…
The paralyzed patient manages to express himself, what he asks for is amazing
64 microelectrodes (3.2 millimeters wide) is what the researchers inserted into the patient’s motor cortex. By focusing on the technique of neurofeedback, the patient could thus choose “yes” or “no” to confirm or reject a letter or groups of letters. Thus, he could finally communicate with his interlocutors. After the third week of testing, the patient managed to make up several sentences. The researchers were surprised to discover the first requests of this man with ALS for more than four years.
First he asked to drink a beer, then asked to listen to TOOL music, to receive a head massage from his mother. We must believe that thinking also opens the appetite: he even ordered food. “For food, I want curry with potatoes, then Bolognese and potato soup “, he asked. The system was designed specifically for this man and it’s a real feat. However, this system would still have some flaws: the New York Times explains that as the tests progressed, the patient’s responses would have become noticeably slower and more difficult to discern.
