Bionic hand makes patient the first amputee in the world

But Dennis Sorensen from Denmark is living proof that working appendages can reinstate senses as complicated as 'feeling'.The incredible technology, revealed by MailOnline last year, is the first bionic hand that allows the user to feel the sensation of touch though the device.The 36-year-old was fitted with the robotic limb, known as Lifehand 2, in Rome on January 26 2013 but the medical breakthrough has only now been shared.'The sensory feedback was incredible,' said Mr Sorensen, who spent a month trying out the hand.'I could feel things that I hadn't been able to feel in over nine years.'When I held an object, I could feel if it was soft or hard, round or square.'Mr Sorensen had his hand blown off in an horrific New Year's Eve firework accident at a neighbour's house in Aalborg, Denmark, where he still lives.Since then he has been wearing a conventional prosthesis that detects muscle movement in the stump of his arm, allowing him to open and close his hand and grasp objects.But without sensory information he cannot feel what he is trying to grasp, making it difficult to gauge the amount of pressure needed.He now has to cope with the psychological challenge of having re-experienced a sense of touch only to lose it again.'I was more than happy to volunteer for the clinical trial, not only for myself, but to help other amputees as well,' he said.The groundbreaking work was carried out by Dr Silvestro Micera and her team from the Federal Polytechnique School of Lausanne in Switzerland.Mr Sorenson was taking part in a trial of the technology at Gemelli Hospital in Rome conducted by the Swiss and Italian scientists who developed the experimental prosthetic hand.The artificial hand detects information about touch using electrical signals from artificial tendons controlling finger movement.Fine wires send the digitally refined impulses to four electrodes implanted in the sensory ulnar and median nerves of the upper arm.'This is the first time in neuroprosthetics that sensory feedback has been restored and used by an amputee in real-time to control an artificial limb," said Dr Silvestro MiceraMr Sorensen had the hand fitted on January 26 2013 but due to clinical trial safety rules, the sensory electrodes had to be removed from his arm after one month.However the scientists believe they would continue to function without damaging the nervous system for many years.The results of the study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, are the first step towards a true bionic hand which can feel as well as move, say the scientists.However, they point out that it will be years before such a device becomes commercially available.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az