Keith Thomas is regaining feeling and movement thanks to a medical breakthrough that uses AI technology.Photo:MATTHEW LIBASSI/The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
MATTHEW LIBASSI/The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
A Long Island, N.Y., man who was paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident three years ago is starting to regain some mobility again — thanks to a medical breakthrough using AI technology.
“It does still seem like science fiction,” Chad Bouton, Director of the Neural Bypass Laboratory and Vice President of Advanced Engineering and Technology at Northwell Health, and the lead on the study, tells PEOPLE.
“It’s like a bionic spinal cord.”
Keith Thomas underwent a 15-hour surgery to implant chips in his brain.MATTHEW LIBASSI/The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
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And it’s helping Keith Thomas, 45, experience sensation in his hand again.
The15-hour surgeryat North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., on March 9 — when the chips were implanted in Thomas’s brain — was just part of the process.
Thomas has two “ports” in his skull, Bouton explains, which are used to connect him to a computer that runs the AI program twice a week for what he says are “intense” sessions that last for hours, and also include non-invasive, newly developed, electrodes that are placed over his muscles.
“Signals go from the computer back to his body — his hand, in this case — for movement and also picking up the sensation, the pressure, of his fingertips. That’s sent back to the computer and into the part of the brain responsible for touch.”
“The second branch is from the computer to his spinal cord just below where the injury is,” Bouton explains. “We now have this information traveling from the computer back over to his spinal cord. And what that’s doing is teaching his spinal cord how to recover, how to strengthen connections, and try to start functioning in a more natural way.”
And it’s working, Bouton says.
Keith Thomas has ports on his head, which are used to connect him to the system that’s helping his body move again.MATTHEW LIBASSI/The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
“We’re already seeing evidence of that, because when we turn it all off we see now he’s doubled his arm strength and he’s starting to feel new sensations. We’re seeing lasting changes. And that’s remarkable.”
While Thomas is relearning how to move, the AI is also “learning at the same time,” Bouton says.
“The AI gets better as it gets more data. When it’s all turned on, that’s when he can also then move his fingers and he can feel the tips of his fingers. Over time, we’re hoping that he’ll even start to have more and more movements. We might even see recovery there in the coming months.”
Right now, the AI system is “very secure” and only available in the lab with a dedicated computer, and Bouton tells PEOPLE that security will be an essential piece as more research is done combining AI with medicine.
“In the future, it’s something we have to pay very close attention to,” he says. “When you’re combining brain interfaces with AI, you absolutely have to be careful with cyber security. It’s critical.”
“There’s going be a lot of things we’re going to have to do to regulate the development in the right area,” he says of potential applications for AI technology.
Keith Thomas is able to feel sensations in his hand again.MATTHEW LIBASSI/The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
But it’s also something that can continue to help people, he says.
“People that have suffered either a traumatic injury or even a stroke, this has applications even beyond spinal cord injury,” he says. “You can start to perhaps even treat Alzheimer’s one day. We already are on our way to ameliorating the effects of Parkinson’s disease.”
“AI is going to change the world,” Bouton tells PEOPLE. “The sky is the limit.”
source: people.com
