Within a single day, activity-specific stimulation programs enabled three individuals with complete sensorimotor paralysis to stand, walk, cycle, swim and control trunk movements. In this work, a computational framework that informed the optimal arrangement of electrodes on a new paddle lead and guided its neurosurgical positioning was developed together with a software supporting the rapid configuration of activity-specific stimulation programs that reproduced the natural activation of motor neurons underlying each activity.
- Activity-dependent spinal cord neuromodulation rapidly restores trunk and leg motor functions after complete paralysis. Nature Medicine 07 February 2022 link to manuscript
Within the multi-disciplinary consortium that brought to this work, Stefano Mandija, Martijn Froeling, and Nico van den Berg developed ad-hoc MR-based methods to image the spinal cord for treatment planning and computational modeling during the RESTORE project (EUREKA - Eurostars E10889). Further support was also provided by Flavio Meliadò during the follow-up project Prep2Go (EUREKA - Eurostars E113969).
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