Amputees regain sense of touch

Two patients with prosthetic arms, have restored a sense of touch thanks to scientific research in what is seen as a step towards creating sensitive limbs

By rerouting the remaining nerves from their lost limbs to their chests, the patients said they could feel their missing arms and hands in their chests.
When heat or pressure was applied to the chest, the patients said they felt as if their hand was being touched.

The results appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The doctor, who led the research, said it could pave the way to providing amputees with the ability to feel what he touches with a prosthetic hand as if it were his own hand.

The patients involved are believed to be a man and a woman who were the first recipients of "bionic" arms which they could control by thought alone.

A former US marine, was given the new arm last year after losing hers at the shoulder in a motorbike accident and the double amputee received his in 2001.

The two involved were able to differentiate between sensation in their actual chest, and one which they attributed to their hand. In some cases they were able to pinpoint exactly where on the hand the sensation was being felt.

Using these arms, the two are for instance able to fold clothes, eat bananas and do the washing up.

A consultant in rehabilitation at Queen Mary's, said this was an important next step

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