Bionic Reconstruction of the Upper Extremity
The upper extremity is by far the most frequently injured part of the body. This reflects the immense importance of this part of human anatomy to handle the world around us. Loss of function and/or actual loss of any of its parts, impairs any human being dramatically.
Our group is focused on the reconstruction of this loss with biologic and/or technical means. We have now assembled an expert Bionic Reconstruction team at the Medical University of Vienna, who deal primarily with these severely impaired patients.
We have now developed different strategies that combine complex technical systems with sophisticated surgical techniques to enable patients to interact with prostheses in an intuitive and natural way.
For this purpose we selectively transfer nerves that have lost their targets to muscles in the environment of the residual limb, to provide a new neurological surface in order to express lost function.
For patients who have lost significant parts of one or both extremities at different levels we have designed nerve transfer matrices that allow them to govern the most important prosthetic functions intuitively.
The attempt to elicit specific movements of the lost limb, such as flexing the elbow, opening and closing the hand or pro-and supination will lead to contractions of the various reinnervated muscles. These muscles then act as bioamplifiers of peripheral nerve signals that can control specific movements of a prosthetic device with several degrees of freedom (joints).
Furthermore, for patients who have suffered severe injuries to their hands or to their peripheral nervous system, with long-term loss of extremity function, we can provide new myosignals by implanting fresh muscles into the extremity.
These muscles can then provide myosignals that intuitively govern complex prosthetic devices. These techniques have been applied clinically and will be reported both in peer reviewed journals and the scientific press.
If you think above described techniques can help improve your function please do not hesitate to ยป contact us.
