In medical first, paralyzed man regains use of arm via computer-brain interface

PARIS – A decade after a bike crash left an American man paralyzed from the shoulders down, he can again feed himself thanks to a medical first, researchers reported Wednesday. The remarkable advance hinges on a prosthesis that circumvents rather than repairs his spinal injury, using wires, electrodes and computer software to reconnect the severed link between his brain and muscles. "To our knowledge, this is the first instance in the world of a person with severe and chronic paralysis directly using their own brain activity to move their own arm and hand to perform functional movements," said the study's lead author, Bolu Ajiboye of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The study's only patient, 56-year-old Bill Kochevar, has two surgically implanted clusters of electrodes -- each no bigger than a baby aspirin -- in his head. They read his brain signals, which are interpreted by a computer.