The Age of Cyborgs has Arrived

[JBeukema]

The patient, called "Milo", aged 26, lost the use of his right hand in a motorcycle accident a decade ago.



After his stump heals in several weeks' time, he will be fitted with a bionic hand which will be controlled by nerve signals in his own arm.
The surgery is the second such elective amputation to be performed by Viennese surgeon Professor Oskar Aszmann.


The patient, a Serbian national who has lived in Austria since childhood, suffered injuries to a leg and shoulder when he skidded off his motorcycle and smashed into a lamppost in 2001 while on holiday in Serbia.


While the leg healed, what is called a "brachial plexus" injury to his right shoulder left his right arm paralysed. Nerve tissue transplanted from his leg by Professor Aszmann restored movement to his arm but not to his hand.

BBC News - Bionic hand for 'elective amputation' patient