China completes world's first interventional brain-computer interface experiment on human

TIANJIN, June 23 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese team, led by Nankai University, announced a significant breakthrough in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology: the world's first interventional human BCI experiment on a human patient.

This less-invasive procedure helped a 67-year-old male patient, suffering from paralysis, regain significant limb function, according to Nankai's announcement on Sunday.

The patient, who had experienced left-side paralysis for six months due to a cerebral infarction, saw his left upper limb achieve actions like grasping and taking medicine.

Unlike the invasive skull-opening surgery used by Elon Musk's Neuralink last year, this pioneering technique involves implanting a device into the skull via neck blood vessels. The device, a stent electrode, was guided into the patient's cranial blood vessel wall using high-precision imaging.

A wireless transmission and power supply unit was also implanted subcutaneously to collect and transmit brain electrical signals, said the Nankai team.

After the surgery, the system has operated stably without complications such as infection, enabling precise brain signal acquisition and interactive control.

This approach significantly reduces surgical risks while maintaining high signal acquisition accuracy and a shorter recovery period, said Duan Feng, a professor from Nankai who led the research.

The advancement has laid the groundwork for future large-scale adoption and offers new hope for patients with motor dysfunctions like stroke, said Duan.

It came after Duan's team conducted the world's first interventional BCI experiment on non-human primates in 2023.

The team's future plans involve recruiting more participants and exploring additional rehabilitation methods. ■