FDA OKS FIRST BIONIC IMPLANT; NEW TECHNOLOGY RETURNS HAND MOBILITY TO SOME QUADRIPLEGICS.

Byline: Tonya Jameson Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

As darkness fell, Eric Schremp dove into the pool. He felt the cool water splash into his face, and an instant later, his head slammed into the concrete bottom 4-1/2 feet below and his neck snapped.

In a moment, Schremp ended his life as a bartender and backyard football player and became a quadriplegic - dependent on his mother and friends to help him shave and brush his teeth.

That was five years ago.

Today, Schremp, 28, uses his own hand to cut his meat and brush his teeth, with the help of a wondrous piece of medical technology.

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration gave its approval for marketing the device, which uses electrodes that run under the skin to stimulate muscles. It is the first time the agency has authorized an implant that actually controls human muscles.

That means that thousands of quadriplegics can begin using the new bionic hand to hold a pen, pour coffee, feed themselves or even paint a picture - the stuff of independent and creative living.

``It was unbelievable to actually be able to control your hand,'' said Schremp, from his home in Sheffield Lake, Ohio. ``Something that has not moved in four years and to be able to move again.''

The FDA approved the system, manufactured by Neuro Control's Freehand System of Cleveland for quadriplegic adults who suffered spinal-cord injuries but have some movement in the upper body. This includes people who have some movement in the elbow and shoulder.

An estimated 54,000 people in the United States have this type of injury. However, only 20 doctors have been trained and certified to implant the $50,000 device, said Geoff Thrope, a biomedical engineer who helped create the Freehand System.

The system has a pacemaker-size battery and microprocessor that is implanted into the chest and connected to electrodes threaded by wire under the skin, down the arm to the forearm and hand muscles. It is controlled by an externally mounted joystick-like device on the opposite shoulder, which responds to movements of that shoulder. The motion sends an electronic signal to the implant to tell the thumb and finger to pinch together to grasp an object.

Moving the shoulder backward makes the hand open and forward makes it close. To lock onto an object, the patient must move the shoulder forward then up quickly to lock the hand and the same motion is done to unlock the hand. The hand can make a fist to grab small objects like ink pens, or it can widen to grasp objects like soda cans.

It takes about 12 weeks of physical therapy and training to learn how to use the hand, Thrope said, but once a patient masters it, the motions become natural.

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Photo: Eric Schremp uses Neuro Control Corp.'s Freehand System.

Associated Press