Brain Implant Reaches 1,000-Day Performance Milestone

[TECH NEWS]

A woman with tetraplegia using the investigational BrainGate system was able to control a computer cursor accurately through neural activity alone more than 1,000 days after receiving the implant. A team of physicians, scientists, and engineers is developing and testing the technology at Brown University, the Providence VA Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Results from five consecutive days of device use surrounding her 1,000th day in the device trial appeared online March 24 in the Journal of Neural Engineering. “This proof of concept — that after 1,000 days a woman who has no functional use of her limbs and is unable to speak can reliably control a cursor on a computer screen using only the intended movement of her hand — is an important step for the field,” said Dr. Leigh Hochberg who is director of the BrainGate pilot clinical trial at MGH. The woman performed two “point-and-click” tasks each day by thinking about moving the cursor with her hand. In both tasks she averaged greater than 90 percent accuracy. Some on-screen targets were as small as the effective area of a Microsoft Word menu icon.

3/24/2011, Brown University