ALS Patient Operates Computer With Thoughts Alone

A 37-year-old man who can’t move or talk because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can control a computer cursor and communication software with his thoughts alone, using a device implanted in the movement control area of his brain, say investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems of Foxborough, Mass.

Neuroscientist and neurologist Leigh Hochberg, an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the principal investigator in a pilot trial of the BrainGate Neural Interface System, presented these findings from the trial’s first ALS-affected participant Oct. 14 at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Atlanta.

BrainGate (see “New Brain-Computer Interface”), a product of Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology, consists of a tiny silicon chip sensor embedded into the movement center (motor cortex) of the brain, and external processors that convert brain signals into computer output. The signals are generated when the user imagines what he wants to do.

“The ultimate goal of the BrainGate System development program is to create a safe, effective and unobtrusive universal operating system that will enable those with motor impairments resulting from a variety of causes to quickly and reliably control a wide range of devices, including computers, assistive technologies and medical devices, simply by using their thoughts,” says an Oct. 14 press release from Cyberkinetics.

The company is seeking patients with ALS who live within a two-hour drive of Boston for a continuing study of BrainGate. Click on Clinical Trials from the company’s Web site at www.cyberkineticsinc.com, or contact Leigh Hochberg at (617) 726-4218 or lhochberg@partners.org.