Brain transplant helps people who are ‘locked in’ to communicate

Locked in is a condition when a person is conscious, able to hear, see, and smell, but is unable to move or speak due to internal stimuli. muscle paralysis completely.

Research published on special page Nature Communications, which breaks previous assumptions about the communication ability of people with complete loss of muscle control including loss of eye and mouth control. Some people with paralysis can communicate by blinking or moving their eyes. But the person with locked-in syndrome is completely locked in and can’t even control the eye muscles.

A research team from the University of Tübingen (Germany) surgically implanted two microelectrode arrays, each 3.2 mm², into the part of the brain involved in planning and controlling autonomic movements. After the transplant, through a computer program, the patient learned to control a dictation program. The program allows patients to select letters one at a time to form words and phrases at an average rate of about 1 character per minute.

The patient was able to match words and short sentences to choose food and visit family. Communication also helps provide detailed information about life quality of the patient and how a person feels when they have internal lock-in.

“We are the first research group to achieve communication with a person who no longer has any autonomous locomotion. And the brain-computer is currently the only means of communication for these patients,” said Dr. Jonas Zimmermann, senior neuroscientist at the Wyss Center in Geneva (Switzerland) and co-author of the study. know on The Guardian.