2018 Volume 35 Issue 4 Pages 524-527
Cybernic functional regeneration treatment using Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) may become a new standard treatment for all neurological ambulation disorders including neuromuscular and cerebrovascular diseases. The NCY–3001 clinical trial for neuromuscular diseases including has been completed, and HAL was approved as a new medical device in 2015. Cybernic treatment using HAL started to be covered by Japanese health insurance in April 2016, and Cyberdyne Inc. released this system in September 2016. Clinical trials for the other neurological disorders including spastic paraplegia (NCY–2001) and recovery phase of stroke (HIT–2016) are now being conducted. In the design of HIT–2016, cybernic treatment starts at almost plateau levels following conventional physiotherapy, and cybernic treatment using HAL enhances the treatment effect. After this study, the next clinical trial plan is to move the starting point much earlier, that is in acute phase, so that the effect might be more pronounced. This cybernic treatment can be combined with other treatments including drug, oligonucleotide, antibody and stem cell therapies.
