Targeted Muscle Reinnervation

Lindsay OlsenITMG 100 Section 7

Background

• Latest advancement in artificial limb technology. • Developed by Dr. Todd Kuiken at the Rehabilitation

Institute of Chicago.

• Doctors reassign the nerves that once controlled the arm or hand you had, which eventually leads to moving the limb by simply thinking about the action you want to perform.

http://www.ted.com/talks/todd_kuiken_a_prosthetic_arm_that_feels.html

Phase One: Viability Review

• RIC experts will review your medical records. If necessary, they will physically examine you to see if the procedure is right for you.

Phase Two: Financial and Medical Clearance

• They will ensure that you are medically sound in order to undergo the surgery procedure and they will work with you to secure insurance approvals for both the procedure and prosthetic device.

• Once the final insurance approvals are in, and then the patient must make a decision if they can pay the remaining amount.

Phase Three: Surgery and Muscle Reinnervation

• Surgery will be scheduled about six weeks after the decision process has been made.

• If the surgery goes smoothly, you can expect to stay in the hospital for about two days. You will go home and wait about five to six months for the nerves to regrow, at which point you will return back to RIC for an evaluation.

Phase Four: Device Fitting and Training

• Once you have healed and the nerves have had a chance to grow, your arm will be custom-built to correspond to your newly reinnervated muscles.

• You will undergo several fittings, as well as physical therapy to develop the muscles in your chest and your core muscles.

Advantages

• Less invasive than other surgeries.

• Length of surgery and the time the patients must stay in the hospital after surgery is shorter.

• The patients own brain is controlling the movements of the prosthetic limb.

• The ability to do everyday tasks sooner. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/health/research/11arm.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&_r=0

Disadvantages

• The size and weight and robustness of the advanced prostheses need to be reduced significantly.

• It is a very costly procedure since insurance cannot pay for the whole surgery.

• It is only for patients who have amputations of the arms or hands. Those who have amputated limbs below the waist are not candidates for this procedure.

Future Possibilities

• The ability of these prosthetic limbs to sense temperature, pressure and force.

• More amputee’s being candidates for this procedure.

• Being less expensive once it becomes more popular and known.

• It could revolutionize the entire field of prosthetic technology.

References

• "Targeted Muscle Reinnervation: Control Your Prosthetic Arm With Thought." Targeted Muscle Reinnervation. Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.

http://www.ric.org/conditions/prosthetics-orthotics/services/bionic/.

• Belluck, Pam. "In New Procedure, Artificial Arm Listens to Brain." The New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/health/research/11arm.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&_r=0.

• Singer, Emily. "Patients Test an Advanced Prosthetic Arm." MIT Technology Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. http://www.technologyreview.com/view/411996/patients-test-an-advanced-prosthetic-arm/.

• A Prosthetic Arm That "Feels." Dir. Todd Kuiken. TED: Ideas worth Spreading. N.p., Oct. 2011. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.

http://www.ted.com/talkstodd_kuiken_a_prosthetic_arm_that_feels.html.