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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
RFI

Swiss-French team gets paraplegic walking again with thought-controlled implants

GertJan Oskam Brain CEA
Gert-Jan walks with his implants during a press conference in Lausanne on 23 May, 2023. © FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP

In a world first, electronic implants developed by Swiss and French experts have allowed a paralysed man to walk again simply by thinking about it.

The patient, 40-year-old Gert-Jan Oskam from the Netherlands, lost the use of his legs more than a decade ago after suffering a spinal cord injury in a bike accident in China.

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