BCI-FES system for neuro-rehabilitation of stroke patients

Nowadays, strokes are a growing cause of mortality and many people remain with motor sequelae and troubles in the daily activities. To treat this sequelae, alternative rehabilitation techniques are needed. In this article a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) system to control a Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) system is presented. It can be used as a novel tool in easy setup clinical routines, to improve the rehabilitation process by mean of detecting patient's motor intention, performing it by FES and finally receiving appropriate feedback The BCI-FES system presented here, consists of three blocks: the first one decodes the patient's intention and it is composed by the patient, the acquisition hardware and the processing software (Emotiv EPOC). The second block, based on Arduino's technology, transforms the information into a valid command signal. The last one excites the patient's neuromuscular system by means of a FES device. In order to evaluate the cerebral activity sensed by the device, topographic maps were obtained. The BCI-FES system was able to detect the patient's motor intention and control the FES device. At the time of this publication, the system it's being employing in a rehabilitation program with patients post stroke.