Ultrathin Brain Implant Monitors Seizures

[TECH NEWS]

A new, ultrathin, ultraflexible implant loaded with sensors can record the electrical storm that erupts in the brain during a seizure with nearly 50-fold greater resolution than was previously possible. The level of detail could revolutionize epilepsy treatment by allowing for less invasive procedures to detect and treat seizures. It could also lead to a deeper understanding of brain function and result in brain-computer interfaces with unprecedented capacity. For epilepsy patients who don’t respond to medication, neurologists will often try to map where in the brain the seizure originated so that region can be surgically removed. The doctor removes a section of skull and places a bulky sensor array on the surface of the patient’s frontal cortex. Current technology for such on-site monitoring has stalled out at a sensor array with about eight sensors per square centimeter. The new array—built in collaboration with John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign—can fit 360 sensors in the same amount of space. The research was published online last week in
Nature Neuroscience.

18 Nov 2011, Technology Review (MIT)