Prior to the LifeHand experiment, two studies examined the implantation of intra-neural electrodes:

THE AMERICAN STUDY

Between 2004 and 2005, a group of American researchers, led by Prof. Ken Horch (University of Utah), implanted the previous-generation LIFE electrodes in the nerves of the arm in proximity of the amputation of a group of eight patients with chronic amputation.

In two cases, they demonstrated that it was possible to open and close a “pinch” prosthesis “with the mind” and to generate, by means of artificial electrical stimulation, different types of sensorial perceptions, such as touch, pressure and movement, localized at the level of the fingers of the missing limb.

The same researchers recorded an efferent neural activity, pointing out how the subjects, by voluntarily modulating this activity, were able to direct a cursor towards a “target” point represented on a computer screen.

The two electrodes used in Utah nevertheless guaranteed only a total of 4 independent communication channels, while the experiment conducted in Italy was able to use 4 more powerful electrodes, for a total of up to 32 channels operating at the same time in order to exchange a larger amount of information between the peripheral nerves and the robotic hand.

Moreover, the robotic hand used in Italy is equipped with five fingers, which can all be controlled independently. The prosthesis used by the researchers at the University of Utah, on the other hand, only had two fingers.

THE CHINESE STUDY

The authors of this study, published in 2007 and conducted at the Zhong Shan Hospital of Fudan University (Shanghai, China), developed an intra-operatory acute implant featuring six intrafascicular electrodes in a single subject, recording the efferent neural activity and demonstrating that the subject was capable of modulating the activity recorded by the electrodes placed at the radial nerve level, “controlling the extension of one prosthetic finger of the hand connected through the same electrodes”.

Once again, in this case the innovations provided by LifeHand are significant. The patient operated at the “Campus Bio-Medico” University Hospital participated in an experiment that lasted almost one month, instead of exclusively in an intra-operatory environment. That is the longest period ever for the experimentation of this type of technology on human’s peripheral nervous system.