Electronic implant helps restore hand movement

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a surgical implant that helps restore movement to a paralyzed hand.

NeuroControl Corp. has introduced the $50,000 Freehand, an electronic implant that sends electric impulses to the muscles that force a paralyzed hand to move on command. Patients who use the Freehand are able to close their hands enough to feed themselves, pick up objects, and write.

A two-inch processor is surgically implanted in a patient’s cheek and electrodes threaded under the skin to the patient’s hand and attached to the hand muscles. The electrodes replace damaged or severed nerves and restore lost motor function. Patients make small shoulder movements, which activate an external sensor and send a signal to the implant to close the fingers.

The company began shipping Freehand to hospitals in August and is working on the second generation Freehand that may help more severely paralyzed patients.