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## Brain Chip Lets Victim of Stroke 'Talk' Again

### The Toronto Star, October 21, 1998

    U.S. doctor co-developed the break-through brain device.

    Paralyzed man  communicates  through 'mouse' in his head

    By  Lori Wiechman
    Associated Press

    ATLANTA - A Star Trek-type implant is allowing a paralyzed, mute
    stroke victim to use his brainpower to move a cursor across a
    screen and convey simple messages such as hello and goodbye.

    Researchers believe it's the first device that allows direct
    communication between the brain and a computer.

    Doctors implanted the device - about the size of the tip of a
    ballpoint pen - into a 53-year-old man's brain. The device
    amplifies his brain signals, which are then transmitted to a laptop
    computer through an antenna-like coil placed on his head.

    Like a computer mouse, the brain signals can move a cursor across
    the computer screen and point at icons with messages such as "See
    you later. Nice talking with you." The man can also use the cursor
    to tell others that he's hungry or thirsty.

    "It's like we're making the mouse the patient's brain," said Dr.
    Roy Bakay, one of two Emory University doctors who developed the
    technology.

    Eventually, researchers hope to use the technology to teach
    patients to write letters, send E-mail and turn lights off and on
    via computer.

    "It opens up a very exciting new chapter in rehabilitation for such
    patients," said Dr. William Friedman, associate chair of
    neurosurgery at the University of Florida.

    The patient, identified only as J.R., suffered a brain-stem stroke
    and is dependent on a ventilator at an Atlanta hospital. His brain
    functions normally but its signals don't reach their intended
    destination.

    Six months ago, Bakay and Dr. Phillip Kennedy implanted a tiny
    glass cone into the man's brain. A substance that encourages nerves
    to grow prompted the brain's nerves to link with electrodes inside
    the cone, forming what Bakay calls "a little brain" in the device.

    The electrodes can transmit electrical impulses produced by the
    brain to a computer.

    To train J.R.'s brain, he was told to think about grabbing a glass.
    The cone is implanted in an area of the brain that can produce
    signals designed to cause movement.

    Bakay and Kennedy have been testing the technology on animals for
    12 years, and Kennedy has patented it.

    The first human patient, a woman with from Lou Gehrig's disease,
    was able to control computer signals for 76 days before she died.
    J.R. is their second patient, and they have federal funding to
    continue research another patient.

    For more than a decade, some paralyzed people have communicated
    with a computer program that translates their coded blinking into
    letters on a screen. J.R. can blink, but "I think he enjoys doing
    this," Bakay said.

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