HealthDay reports on study findings published in New England Journal of Medicine which showed a new "mind-controlled” prosthetic arm can allow amputees to regain a sense of touch. Unlike conventional arm prostheses, this new one has direct connections into the bone, muscle and nerves in the remaining portion of the natural arm.

HealthDay spoke to S. Robert Rozbruch, MD, chief of Limb Lengthening and Complex Reconstruction Service at HSS, who was not involved in the study, to provide commentary on the findings. While myoelectric arm protheses exist, which are powered by electrodes placed on the skin of the remaining natural arm, and signals from the muscles are sent to the motors that operate the prosthesis, “this study takes it to another level,” according to Dr. Rozbruch.

“The advantage with the new prosthesis is that the electrical signals from the implanted system appear much stronger, and you get more out of them,” explained Dr. Rozbruch. "That's remarkable stuff. To be able to get both motor [movement] and sensory information,” he added.

Read the full article at consumer.healthday.com.