A man who had been paralyzed for two decades has regained the ability to walk with assistance after receiving a revolutionary brain implant developed by European scientists.
The patient Gert-Jan, who did not want to reveal his surname, said the breakthrough had given him “a freedom that I did not have” before.
“Within five to ten minutes I could control my hips like they were real,” Gert-Jan said.
The advance is the result of more than a decade of work by a team of researchers in France and Switzerland.
The technology creates a digital bridge between the brain and spinal cord, allowing signals to bypass damaged nerves. Researchers say the breakthrough could transform treatment options for millions of people living with paralysis worldwide.
Medical experts have described the achievement as one of the most significant advancements in neuroscience in recent years, offering new hope to patients and families affected by spinal injuries.
Last year, the team showed that a spinal cord implant – which sends electrical pulses to stimulate movement in leg muscles – had allowed three paralysed patients to walk again.
But they needed to press a button to move their legs each time.
The latest research combines the spinal implant with a new technology called a brain-computer interface, which is implanted above the part of the brain that controls leg movement.
The interface uses algorithms based on artificial intelligence methods to decode brain recordings in real time, the researchers said.
This allows the interface, designed by researchers at France’s Atomic Energy Commission, to work out how the patient wants to move their legs at any moment.
The data is transmitted to the spinal cord implant via a portable device that fits in a walker or small backpack, allowing patients to get around without help from others.
The two implants build what the researchers call a “digital bridge” to cross the disconnect between the spinal cord and brain that was created during Gert-Jan’s accident.
“Now I can just do what I want – when I decide to make a step the stimulation will kick in as soon as I think about it,” Gert-Jan told a press conference in Geneva.
It has “been a long journey to get here,” he added, after undergoing invasive surgery twice so both devices could be implanted.
