Soft and Elastomeric Intramuscular Electrode with Therapeutic Delivery Capability

Approximately 5-6% of military injuries involve some form of major peripheral nerve injury with little chance of spontaneous healing. Currently these injuries lead to major impairment of voluntary muscle function in the limbs and extremities, making tasks of walking, reaching, grasping, etc. very difficult or impossible for many patients. It is not enough to focus therapeutic treatment on the segmental nerve injuries alone, new methods to treat and stimulate the distal neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) must be developed to maintain muscle responsiveness and welfare while the slow process of axonal regeneration continues at the proximal injury site. TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) and our partners at the Univ. of Pittsburgh (UP) propose to develop a soft, flexible, neuromuscular electro-stimulation (ES) electrode prosthetic with elastic composite wires and controlled release of neurotransmitters and growth factors to maintain healthy muscle function and promote reinnervation at the NMJs.