Severely affected ALS patients have broad and high expectations for brain-machine interfaces

Abstract

Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) may provide new communication channels and motor function to individuals with severe neurodegenerative diseases, but little is known about their interests in such devices. We investigated the interests of severely affected ALS patients in BMIs, and examined factors that might influence these interests. We conducted an anonymous, mail-back questionnaire survey of severely disabled ALS patients diagnosed using the revised El Escorial criteria. Thirty-seven patients responded to the questionnaire. Twenty-nine (78.4%) had undergone tracheostomy positive pressure ventilation. More than 80% of the patients were interested in communication support. Thirty-three (89.2%) felt stressed during communication. Among those using assistive communication devices (17 patients), 15 (88.2%) were not satisfied with them. More than 50% of the patients expressed an interest in BMIs. Their expectations of BMIs ranged widely from emergency alarm to postural change. The frequent use of personal computers tended to be correlated with an interest in invasive BMIs (p = 0.07). In conclusion, this was the first questionnaire survey demonstrating that severely affected ALS patients have broad and high expectations for BMIs. Communication was the most desired support from BMIs for such patients. We need to meet their widely ranging expectations of BMIs.

Key words::

• Brain-machine interfaces
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• questionnaire survey

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant for ‘Brain Machine Interface Development’ and ‘Development of BMI Technologies for Clinical Application’ from the Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences funded from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan; by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, by Health Labor Sciences Research Grant from the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare of Japan, and by The Nakabayashi Trust for ALS Research.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.