The first living patient with Elon Musk’s Neuralink “brain chip” implant wants the world to know how “incredible” and “rewarding” his clinical trial with the technology was.
Just four months ago, 30-year-old Noland Arbaugh underwent experimental surgery that would allow him to control computers with his mind.
“I’m really excited to continue,” Arbaugh, who has been paralyzed from the fourth vertebra in his neck since college, said of his role in Neuralink’s human trial.
But even though the tech company’s brain-computer interface allowed him to race his father-in-law in Nintendo’s Mario Kart, navigate a computer cursor and much more – all with just his thoughts – technical obstacles always hinder the functioning of the brain chip.
A report on Arbaugh’s Neuralink trial says about 85 percent of the chip’s tendril-shaped connections to his brain broke away, forcing Neuralink staff to retool the system on the software side, as FDA approves trials on a second patient.
The first living patient with Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip implant wants the world to know how “incredible” and “rewarding” his clinical trial was with the technology. “I’m really excited to continue,” said Noland Arbaugh, 30 (above), of his role in Neuralink’s human trial.
But even though the tech company’s brain-computer interface has allowed Arbaugh to race his father-in-law in Nintendo’s Mario Kart (as he plays here above), navigate a computer cursor and much more – all with his thoughts alone – technical obstacles still hinder the functioning of the brain chip.
According to Arbaugh, who told his story to the New York Times, the natural movements of his brain, floating in the “cerebrospinal fluid” that protects him from injury, caused these electrode-like connections to slide over time.
However, Neuralink sources told the Wall Street Journal that the malfunction could be due to air being trapped in his skull during surgery: a condition known as pneumocephalus that can cause seizures. , brain abscess and death if left untreated.
The report claimed that this condition caused the wires to come loose, which almost led to removal of the implant.
But Musk’s company revealed this month that it plans to implant wires that go deeper into the brain of its second human patient, plans that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). -United.
Neuralink’s brain-computer interface consists of a computer chip attached to tiny, flexible wires that are sewn into the brain via a “sewing machine-like” robot.
Aided by medical professionals and company staff, the robot removes a small piece of the skull, connects these threadlike electrodes to certain areas of the brain and stitches up the hole, with the only visible remains being a scar from the incision.
Neuralink’s brain-computer interface consists of a computer chip attached to tiny, flexible wires sewn into the brain. A “sewing robot” (above) removes a small piece of the skull, connects wire-like electrodes to certain areas of the brain, and stitches up the hole.
Neuralink’s human trials for its brain-computer interface hope to assess implant safety
Musk said this procedure only takes 30 minutes, will not require general anesthesia and patients will be able to go home the same day.
But Dr. Lee Miller, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University, noted that the brain’s immune defenses have also posed challenges to brain chip implants like Neuralink.
Researchers, Dr. Miller said, have seen brains develop scar tissue around sensor implants, inhibiting the chip’s connectivity among other problems.
Brains even rejected entire units that were connected to the brain by a grid of tiny needles, according to Dr. Miller, a rehabilitation medicine researcher.
Although Neuralink’s software fixes have forced Arbaugh to learn new ways to click and navigate with his cursor on a computer screen, the Arizona resident said it’s still an improvement over life before Neuralink.
In the years following his paralysis from a swimming accident, Arbaugh tried various devices that ultimately failed to provide a long-term solution to his mobility needs.
Arbaugh, as he was before a swimming accident left him paralyzed from the neck down
Arbaugh with his loved ones
Before Neuralink, Apple’s Siri voice assistant on Arbaugh’s iPad had proven to be the most reliable method for writing text messages, calling friends, and completing other life tasks. .
After installing the Neuralink implant last January and following a period of intense training with company staff, Arbaugh was able to break a 2017 world record for speed and accuracy, all while mentally controlling a computer cursor.
“I was like, once you take these restraints off me, I’m just going to fly,” Arbaugh recalled. “It was very, very cool.”
While saying that losing 85 percent of this interconnectivity with the brain implant has been difficult and disappointing, he stressed that he is proud to play a role in improving these advances. medical technologies.
“I just want to take everyone with me on this journey,” Arbaugh said, adding that he hopes Neuralink and similar devices will one day help others regain lost speech, sight or movement.
A neurophysiologist, Dr. Cristin Welle, who helped launch the FDA program that reviews medical devices such as implants for approval, said Neuralink’s plans to install deeper connections between their chips and the brain humans could face other biological obstacles.
After installing the Neuralink implant in January and following an intense period of training with company staff, Arbaugh was able to break a 2017 world record for speed and accuracy by mentally controlling a computer cursor.
Dr. Welle, who works at The University of Colorado said the deeper tendrils can still slide or even rub along the surface of the brain, where they could potentially increase the amount of scar tissue formed. — increasing signal loss between the brain and the chip, among other possible health problems.
The design of Neuralink’s soft, connective lead wire, she suggested, may need to go back to the drawing board.
“A fully flexible device may not be a long-term solution,” Dr. Welle said. “It’s hard to know.”
Regardless, Neuralink’s first-ever human patient still has high hopes for the implant’s future, saying he looks forward to broader, more scientific applications of brain-computer interfaces once technology will have helped those who need it most.
“Then it can allow people to improve their abilities,” he said, “provided we don’t abandon our humanity along the way.”
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