The American Association of Nurse Life Care Planners is hosting its annual conference in Las Vegas at the end of March. Our CEO, Victoria Powell, has been asked to speak to the attendees about a case study in Targeted Muscle Reinnervation.
Targeted reinnervation enables amputees to control motorized prosthetic devices and to regain sensory feedback. The method was developed by Dr. Todd Kuiken at Northwestern University and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Dr. Gregory Dumanian at Northwestern University Division of Plastic Surgery. Targeted muscle reinnervation is a method by which a spare muscle (the target muscle) of an amputated patient is denervated (its original nerves cut and/or de-activated), then reinnervated with residual nerves of the amputated limb. The resultant EMG signals of the targeted muscle now represent the motor commands to the missing limb, and are used to drive a motorized prosthetic device.
TMR is now a standard surgical procedure and has been performed at medical centers nationwide.
Check out this Youtube Video for more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlcpZrl9-s