The branches · Movement and body · could move a stage within 1 to 5 years
A prosthetic limb fixed to the bone with nerve control
Instead of a socket over the stump, a titanium rod is fixed into the bone and comes out through the skin, and the artificial limb clips onto it. Electrodes on the person's own nerves and muscles, run through the same rod, control the limb. It is the closest thing to an artificial limb that is part of the body. The bone anchor alone is approved and in routine use; the version with implanted nerve and muscle electrodes, which is what this entry is about, has been used by a small number of people for years but remains in trials.
What would count
A person with an amputation wears a prosthetic limb attached directly to the bone through the skin, controlled by signals from electrodes implanted on their own nerves or muscles, and uses it outside the laboratory in daily life, in a peer-reviewed report; the rung above needs a regulator's approval of that combination.
Who settles it: Peer-reviewed reports of the fitted volunteers; the regulator's approval record (the United States Food and Drug Administration or its equivalent) for the combination of anchor and implanted electrodes
Where it stands
First human. Reached on 8 October 2014, on the record of doi.org. Could move a stage within 1 to 5 years.
The last reading
Once a week every upgrade is read against the news, against what would count above. Open a line to see what that week held. Every reading of this upgrade is on this week's reading.
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16 October 2026 No change
On 2026-09-17 Integrum announced that the first patient in the United States had received its e-OPRA system (a bone anchor with implanted muscle and nerve electrodes) at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, in a study led by the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab under an FDA investigational device exemption, eight patients in all, expected to conclude in 2030. That is the combination this entry's next rung is about, but an investigational exemption permits a study, not sale, so no stage moves; the entry stays at first human until a regulator approves the anchor-plus-electrodes combination.
Notes
The charter expected this leaf at in clinical use. The record supports a split: the bone anchor alone (the OPRA system) was approved by the FDA under a humanitarian exemption on 16 July 2015 and is used routinely in Sweden, Australia and elsewhere, but the version with implanted nerve and muscle electrodes, which is what "nerve control" means here, has no regulator's approval and is still a trial device. The entry therefore sits at first human, on the 2014 Swedish report of the first person to use one at home. If John would rather the leaf cover the bone anchor alone, the stage becomes in clinical use on the FDA's 2015 record and the name changes.