Shanghai hospital completes world's first BCI for hand movement using Chinese device

Following its market approval in March, the first prescription for Neural Electronic Opportunity, an implantable brain-computer interface hand motor function compensation system, was issued on Monday in Shanghai, with the world's first implantation surgery performed at the city's Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University.

Currently, the patient's condition remains stable post-surgery, and intraoperative tests showed that the patient's epidural electroencephalogram signals collected by the system were stable and of good quality, according to the hospital.

Developed by Neuracle Medical Technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd, this cutting-edge technology was once limited to laboratories and clinical trials. It received its market approval on March 13, becoming the world's first approved implantable BCI Class III medical device.

Now, with its entry into real-world clinical practice, the system has become a medical device that eligible patients can use, bringing hope for millions of paralyzed patients with spinal cord injuries around the globe.

Severe spinal cord injuries can often cause impaired hand motor function, and medications and conventional rehabilitation methods still have limitations in treating it.

The patient who underwent this first surgery sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident 10 years ago, resulting in impaired hand grasping function and limited ability to perform activities of daily living. After undergoing standardized rehabilitation treatment, the patient's functional improvement remained stagnant. Following screening and evaluation by a multidisciplinary team in accordance with the product's registered indications, the patient was selected for this implantation.

By capturing and decoding epidural EEG signals to identify motor intention, the NEO system establishes a communication pathway between the brain and an external functional compensation device. Assisting with compensation for hand-grasping function, it clearly helps improve the patient's ability to perform activities of daily living.