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by ibgames

EARTHDATE: February 5, 2017

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REAL LIFE NEWS: NEW SYSTEM LETS LOCKED-IN PATIENTS COMMUNICATE

by Hazed

Doctors have used a device which detects the patterns in brain activity to allow people suffering from locked-in syndrome to communicate.

The patients are suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a progressive neurodegenerative disease which leaves them completely paralysed while still aware of their surroundings and able to think. (Remember the ice bucket challenge that went viral a few years ago? That was to raise awareness of ALS.)

The technology detects patterns in the brain activity of the patients, so it allowed the three women and one man to answer “yes” and “no” questions. The patients were trained to use the system more than a year after they were diagnosed as being completely locked-in.

During the training, doctors asked them to think “yes” or “no” in response to a series of simple questions. The patients wore a cap that uses infrared light to spot variations in blood flow in different regions of the brain, and a computer was able to learn to distinguish between the blood flow patterns for the “yes” and “no” answers in each patient.

“It’s the first sign that completely locked-in syndrome may be abolished forever, because with all of these patients, we can now ask them the most critical questions in life,” said Niels Birbaumer, a neuroscientist who led the research at the University of Tübingen.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to establish reliable communication with these patients and I think that is important for them and their families,” he added. “I can say that after 30 years of trying to achieve this, it was one of the most satisfying moments of my life when it worked.”

All four of the patients trained with the system were asked about their quality of life and they all indicated that they were “happy”.

However, in one twist, the daughter of one of the patients asked whether she should marry her boyfriend – and her father said “no” nine times out of ten! But she went ahead and married him anyway.

Next, Birbaumer wants to come up with an enhanced system that will cope with more than just simple yes/no answers.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/31/groundbreaking-system-allows-locked-in-syndrome-patients-to-communicate-als

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