BION®
Paralyzed muscles can be reanimated by electrical stimulation in order to prevent disuse atrophy and restore functional movement. We have developed a new class of implantable medical devices, BION®s (for BIOnic Neurons), that can provide precise and inexpensive interfaces between electronic controllers and muscles. Separately addressable BION®s can be injected into various sites, where they receive power and digital command data from a single external RF coil. BION®s are currently being investigated in clinical trials in Canada, Italy and the USA.
A first generation BION® developed at AMI, generates stimulation pulses of 0.2-30mA @ 4-512µs duration. It is now in clinical trials of Therapeutic Electrical Stimulation (TES) to prevent and reverse disuse atrophy in stroke and arthritis patients.
A second generation BION®, currently under development at AMI, will sense muscle length, limb acceleration and bioelectrical potentials for feedback control of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES).
The BION® projects at AMI are under the direction of Dr. Gerald Loeb, Professor of Biomedical Engineering.
More About BION®
Figures
Fig. 1
A glass-encapsulated BION®
Fig. 2
Associated peripherals include: (A) the "Personal Trainer" which is programmed with digital command strategies as needed by the attending health practitioner, (B) power and digital command data coil, (C) dry tester set-up (used to confirm operational status immediately prior to implantation), (E) BION® implant®, and (F) sterilized BION® loaded in a BION® insertion tool.