Intracortical Somatosensory Stimulation to Elicit Fingertip Sensations in an Individual With Spinal Cord Injury
Fifer, Matthew S; McMullen, David P; Osborn, Luke E; Thomas, Tessy M; Christie, Breanne; Nickl, Robert W; Candrea, Daniel N; Pohlmeyer, Eric A; Thompson, Margaret C; Anaya, Manuel A; Schellekens, Wouter; Ramsey, Nick F; Bensmaia, Sliman J; Anderson, William S; Wester, Brock A; Crone, Nathan E; Celnik, Pablo A; Cantarero, Gabriela L; Tenore, Francesco V
(2022) Neurology, volume 98, issue 7, pp. e679 - e687
(Article)
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The restoration of touch to fingers and fingertips is critical to achieving dexterous neuroprosthetic control for individuals with sensorimotor dysfunction. However, localized fingertip sensations have not been evoked via intracortical microstimulation (ICMS). METHODS: Using a novel intraoperative mapping approach, we implanted electrode arrays in the finger areas
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of left and right somatosensory cortex and delivered ICMS over a 2-year period in a human participant with spinal cord injury. RESULTS: Stimulation evoked tactile sensations in 8 fingers, including fingertips, spanning both hands. Evoked percepts followed expected somatotopic arrangements. The subject was able to reliably identify up to 7 finger-specific sites spanning both hands in a finger discrimination task. The size of the evoked percepts was on average 33% larger than a finger pad, as assessed via manual markings of a hand image. The size of the evoked percepts increased modestly with increased stimulation intensity, growing 21% as pulse amplitude increased from 20 to 80 µA. Detection thresholds were estimated on a subset of electrodes, with estimates of 9.2 to 35 µA observed, roughly consistent with prior studies. DISCUSSION: These results suggest that ICMS can enable the delivery of consistent and localized fingertip sensations during object manipulation by neuroprostheses for individuals with somatosensory deficits. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER: NCT03161067.
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Keywords: Electric Stimulation/methods, Hand, Humans, Somatosensory Cortex, Spinal Cord Injuries, Touch, Clinical Neurology, Clinical Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Journal Article
ISSN: 0028-3878
Publisher: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins
Note: Funding Information: This research was developed with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (Arlington, VA) Revolutionizing Prosthetics program (contract N66001-10-C-4056) and Neurally Enhanced Operations program (contract HR001120C0120). Development of experimental setup and support for regulatory submissions associated with this study were provided by a grant from the Alfred E. Mann Foundation. Study software infrastructure and study preparation were developed with internal funding from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Johns Hopkins University. Publisher Copyright: © American Academy of Neurology.
(Peer reviewed)