Brain Implant Could Help Folks Walk Again

Medical technology has grown by leaps and bounds, so much so that a lady recently received a 3D printed skull implant. Well, implants are nice and good, so how else are they able to help humanity out? Take this unique brain implant for instance – researchers over at the A*Star Institute of Microelectronics in Singapore have managed to come up with a neural probe array that is so tiny, it will remain within one’s brain on a long-term basis without causing any damage to the surrounding delicate tissue.

In fact, it is said that the probe array is so small, it is capable of floating along inside a person’s brain. The whole idea of this probe array is to assist amputees and people who have spinal cord injuries, helping them control artificial limbs.

The neural array would build a “bridge”between the brain and artificial limbs, so that someone who happens to be injured in the spine and told in the past that he or she would never be able to walk again, would be able to defy all odds. Of course, this is not a risk-free neural implant, as there are risks involved during “installation”, but it is as safe as it gets since the probe array would be implanted in the brain’s subarachnoid space, allowing it to remain within the brain’s protective membranes. Future design tweaks are required to make the probes fully implantable.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Medical
Tags: implant