Synchron said it has begun the first clinical trial for its neural interface technology designed to restore communication to people with severe paralysis.
The trial will measure the safety of the company’s “thought-to-text” technology by assessing its Stentrode implant in combination with BrainOS software and the stability of high-fidelity signals from the brain to external communications technologies.
Stentrode was designed to be small and flexible enough to safely pass through curving blood vessels in a procedure called cerebral angiography, eliminating the need for open brain surgery, according to Campbell, Calif.-based Synchron. By using blood vessels to deliver the technology to the brain, the technique may reduce risk of brain tissue rejection of the device, which has been a significant problem for other techniques, the company said. BrainOS is a modular training software powered by artificial intelligence that enables patients to control assistive technologies directly through thought.
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