New Technology FLAMES May Help Spinal Cord Injured Using Microstimulation

posted on Oct 24 by Roseanne in the Disability News, Health, Paralysis Cures, Spinal Cord Injury, Technology category

Two professors working in the developing field of neuroprosthetics have developed a light-activated device that may one day enable people with spinal cord injuries to regain some use of their nervous system. The technology is called FLAMES, an acronym for Floating Light Activated Micro Electric Stimulators, and it uses a wireless device to electrically stimulate the central nervous system. With it, they hope to use a tiny beam of light to stimulate micro-electrodes placed below a spinal cord injury.

The device has been developed by Professors Mesut Sahin of  the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Selim Unlu of Boston University under a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Like other neuroprostheses, such as cochlar implants, FLAMES uses microstimulators implanted in the body to activate the nervous system; unlike other neuroprostheses, the new technology allows the use of tiny floating electrodes and a laser in place of wires. 

Explains Sahin, “A key benefit is that since our device is wireless, the connections can’t deteriorate over time plus, the implant causes minimal reaction in the tissue which is a common problem with similar wired devices.”  And because the electrodes are stimulated by a laser in the near-infrared range, there is no harm to human tissue.

The project is in its third year of development with the professors currently optimizing the size and placement of the device in preparation for clinical trials. Says Unlu, “We hope that once FLAMES advances to the clinical stage, patients paralyzed by spinal injury will be able to regain vital functions.”

Sources:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/njio-nrt101711.php
http://www.njit.edu/features/innovations/sahin.php
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/research/npp/index.htm

Image sources:
eurekalert.org
eeweb.com
www3.imperial.ac.uk