Man Chooses to Swap Disabled Hand for Bionic Replacement

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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Man Chooses to Swap Disabled Hand for Bionic Replacement

Doctors are using technology to do something that biology will apparently never be able to achieve.

A Serbian man known as "Milo," whose hand was disabled in a motorbike accident ten years ago, has elected to have the hand removed and replaced with a bionic prosthesis. The hand will take electrical impulses from Milo's arm, and convert them into movement, giving him the use of his hand back for the first time in a decade.

Milo's injury, a "brachial plexus" injury to his left shoulder, left his arm paralyzed. Doctors were able to give Milo use of his arm back by transplanting nerve and muscle tissue from his leg, but they were unable to give him back the use of his hand. The idea of elective amputation was put before Milo three years ago, and doctors gave him a hybrid hand, which attached under his left arm, so he could get used to using the prosthetic. "The operation will change my life," Milo said. "I live ten years with this hand and it cannot be [made] better. The only way is to cut this down and I get a new arm."

There has been some opposition to the procedure, but Professor Aszmann, who performed the surgery, felt that amputation and prosthesis was the only really effective option available for Milo. "To biologically reconstruct a hand for him would be a never-ending story and in the end he would still have a non-functional hand," he said. "It is in the patient's interest to provide him with a solution he can live with properly and successfully, and so I have no problem with cutting off his hand."

The prosthetic that Milo will receive must have its wrist manually rotated, but work on more advanced models is underway. The newer models have three times as many sensors as Milo's hand, and allow for an even greater range of movement.

Source: BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13273348]


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ssManae

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Aug 13, 2009
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Was wondering when this was going to pop up. Some exciting stuff happening in the prosthetic field. Once they finish getting the contact probes to stick to the brain (they slide off after a bit at the moment...) we might get to see entire arms like this.

I do have to wonder what the battery life on it is, though.
 

Ekonk

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Apr 21, 2009
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That thing looks like a Deus Ex mechanical augmentation.

This excites me and scares me greatly.
 

MeatsOfEvil

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Dec 4, 2009
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Edit - double post, sorry for that. I still do think that's really cool though, and a bit overdue.
 

thethingthatlurks

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Feb 16, 2010
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This is so cool, and not just a guy regaining use of his hand! I'd totally get one of those, but I have full use of my hands. Seriously, how is bionic augmentation not the most awesome thing we could do with our bodies? Somebody please invent bionic eyes...I'm kinda sick of having to wear glasses and only being able to see between ~450-750nm.
 

Alphalpha

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Jan 11, 2010
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thethingthatlurks said:
This is so cool, and not just a guy regaining use of his hand! I'd totally get one of those, but I have full use of my hands. Seriously, how is bionic augmentation not the most awesome thing we could do with our bodies? Somebody please invent bionic eyes...I'm kinda sick of having to wear glasses and only being able to see between ~450-750nm.
That's what laser eye surgery is for.
 

Jabberwock xeno

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Oct 30, 2009
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FalloutJack said:
Just waitin' for my full-prosthetic body...
This.

Immortality, and mind controlled electronics are one step closer...

If only they allowed commercial use for this stuff...
 

endnuen

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Sep 20, 2010
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This just gave me a little hope!
I'm 60 % paralysed in my entire left arm, the result of damage to my shoulder when I was born. There is no way I can get my arm to move properly again except for this.

Mighty good news indeed.
 

Sacman

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May 15, 2008
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I'm reminded of the creepy Deus Ex Sarif Industries trailers...

 

similar.squirrel

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Mar 28, 2009
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patapolo said:
One word: Skynet.

/thread
No. Not /thread. I'm f-cking sick of this tired bullsh-t coming up every time something even vaguely robotic is mentioned. It's not Skynet, it's an injured man regaining the use of a lost appendage.
No offence.
 

PureIrony

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Aug 12, 2010
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This is quite the interesting advancement.

Now lets just hope no one tries to replace their arm with a prosthetic made out of their wife.
 

Mrsoupcup

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Jan 13, 2009
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PureIrony said:
This is quite the interesting advancement.

Now lets just hope no one tries to replace their arm with a prosthetic made out of their wife.
Or a mech suit made out of your mom.