The patient case involves a Swedish woman who lost her right hand in a tragic accident over 20 years ago. Following reconstructive surgery, the woman received a below-elbow prosthesis based on Integrum's OPRA[TM] Implant System solution. The system was further refined advanced e-OPRA[TM] system with implanted electrodes, connected to a sophisticated AI system with the capability of relaying impulses, both to and from, a bionic hand equipped with heat and touch sensors.

The complete system has been used at home, allowing the carrier to perform simple and motorically complex everyday tasks. This is the first time clinicians and researchers have been able to achieve a long-term human-machine interface, connecting residual bones, nerves, and muscles into an electronic system to regain mobility. The study was published in the journal Science Robotics 2023-10-11 (https://www.science.org/toc/scirobotics/8/83).

The biological integration of titanium implants into bone tissue creates opportunities to advance amputee care further. By combining osseointegration with reconstructive surgery, implanted electrodes, and AI, we can restore human function in an unprecedented way. The below elbow amputation level has particular challenges, and the level of functionality achieved marks an important milestone for the field of advanced extremity reconstructions as a whole," says Rickard Brånemark, CEO of Integrum.

About the researchers and companies

The work was funded through the EU research program Horizon 2020 (DeTOP; GA #687905) and achieved through a joint-research project involving Integrum AB, researchers from the Center for Bionics and Pain Research (CBPR), the Bionics Institute in Melbourne, the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lund University, the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, INAIL Prosthetic Center, Universitá Campus Bio-Medico, and the companies TeamOlmed in Sweden, and Prensilia in Italy.