Synchron’s catheter delivery could make brain-computer interface technology simpler, safer and more accessible than the leading alternative: open-brain surgery.
Officials at Synchron — developer of the catheter-delivered Stentrode brain-computer interface (BCI) implant — believe they’re the only BCI company tapping into blood vessels to capture signals from the brain.
They say they’ve already enabled a small group of paralyzed ALS patients to control a computer with their minds, and hope there will be more technology applications.
Shortly after the New York–based company released new results of a safety study for its implant, Synchron Director of Neuroscience Peter Yoo spoke with Medical Design & Outsourcing about the Stentrode implant and how catheter delivery could make BCI technology simpler, safer and more accessible than the leading alternative: open-brain surgery.
“The novel approach of the catheter delivery increases the number of physicians who can deliver our devices compared to a very specialized type of surgery,” Yoo said in an interview. “The techniques that we use are standard angiography procedures and other neurointerventional techniques performed by stroke doctors. We’re hoping that it’ll help with the proliferation of the technology and access to the technology, that it can be cheaper and more available for the patients who are in need.”
