| From: | Lady Jestyr <jestyr@*******.DIALIX.COM.AU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Interesting news |
| Date: | Wed, 20 Aug 1997 21:10:23 +1000 |
interesting news item. I got it off the Star Wars List <plug plug> but I
figured it was even more appropriate for Shadowrun. Enjoy.
Lady Jestyr
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Who says I'm crazy? I prefer the term 'sensibility deficient'
- Tamino
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Elle Holmes jestyr@*******.dialix.com.au
http://jestyr.home.ml.org/
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 22:31:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: HollywdLiz@***.com
To: Rogue3244@***.com, swml@****.NET
Subject: SW comes alive...
The following was sent to me via AP newswire. What's next--hyperspace? Let's
hope so!
<< WASHINGTON (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration approved the
world's first surgical implant to restore movement to a paralyzed
limb Monday, an electronic hand that helps quadriplegics feed
themselves, pour coffee, even write a letter.
NeuroControl Corp.'s implant offers hope to about 54,000 U.S.
quadriplegics who retain some upper-body movement but cannot move
their hands to perform the most basic of tasks. The Freehand's
implanted electrodes send electric impulses to muscles that force a
paralyzed hand to move on command.
``Being able to grasp is very important for activities of daily
life,'' said FDA medical device chief Dr. Bruce Burlington. ``It's
really clear that everybody got somewhat better and other patients
got substantially better'' in tests of the implant.
``I looked at this as a way to add more quality to my life,''
said Eric Schremp of Sheffield Lake, Ohio, who was partially
paralyzed in a 1992 diving accident and received the hand implant
during a clinical trial last year.
``I can shave myself now. I attend college, I'm taking notes in
school,'' Schremp said. ``Plus, it adds confidence that you're able
to pick up a glass in public, do normal things.''
The FDA says Freehand promises to be the first in a line of
increasingly sophisticated devices to force paralyzed limbs to work
again.
``You've seen Star Wars?'' asked Dr. Dan Spiker, FDA's deputy
neurologic devices director, referring to the movie trilogy where
Luke Skywalker gets a fully working hand transplant. This first
prosthetic hand ``is rudimentary compared to that. But that's where
we're headed. ... ItIt is for quadriplegics who can still
move their shoulders, a motion needed to operate the implant.
Today, quadriplegics get some help from external devices that
let them type on computers by blowing into a mouthpiece or feed
themselves with a fork strapped to a hand. Patients also try tendon
and muscle transplants with very limited success.
The Freehand system, in contrast, is an electronic substitute
for the brain's nerve impulses that, because of spinal cord injury,
can no longer signal the hand to move.
A surgeon implants a two-inch processor into the chest, threads
electrodes under the skin down to the patient's best hand and
attaches them to hand muscles. Patients wear under their clothing
on the opposite shoulder a small joystick. A jerk of the shoulder
sends an electronic signal to the implant to tell the thumb to move
toward the fingers in a pinching motion.
Tap a button on the chest with the arm, and the device forces
the muscles into a more intricate movement to grasp a larger object
like a cup.
The faster the shoulder jerks, the quicker the hand movement.
Once patients grasp the object, an upward shoulder movement locks
the grasp in place until they're ready to open the hand again.
Testing of 61 quadriplegics found they all performed tasks of
daily living significantly better with the implant, which was
developed in 25 years of testing at Case Western Reserve
University. Its inventors formed NeuroControl to commercialize the
implant.
Mastering the Freehand takes an average of three months, said
NeuroControl's Geoffrey Thrope, who co-invented the Freehand. The
patient's hand is encased in a cast for a month, and then must
undergo extensive physical rehabilitation and training to operate
the device.
NeuroControl, which began shipping the Freehand to hospitals
Monday, already is testing a second-generation electronic hand to
restore hand movement to the more severely paralyzed. It also is
developing implants to restore leg function and control over
bladder function.
Nobody knows how long the Freehand system will last before the
wires deteriorate or snap, the FDA cautioned. In clinical testing,
20 percent of the patients required additional surgery to
reposition the device, replace broken electrodes or remove
electrodes because of infection. Other side effects included
swelling and skin irritation at the implant site.>>
