Stentrode (neuroimplant)

Stentrode, Synchron's flagship technology, is an endovascular brain implant designed to enable patients to wirelessly control digital devices with thoughts to improve functional independence.

The seminal Synchron technology, motor neuroprosthesis, or motor BCI, is implanted through the jugular vein using neurointerventional techniques commonly used to treat stroke and does not require open brain surgery.

The system is designed for patients suffering from paralysis as a result of a wide range of diseases, and strives to be easy to use and reliable so that patients can use it autonomously.

Paralysis can lead to a loss of control over the muscles of the body, while the brain can remain intact. Motor intent is the brain signal underlying the physical desire to move. The brain-computer interface is designed to restore the lost transmission of the motor intent signal associated with paralysis. After implantation, the device detects and wirelessly transmits motor intent to control personal digital devices.

2024: Results of long-term study of implant patients published

And in February 2024, Synchron announced that the medical journal JAMA Neurology published the results of a long-term study of patients with severe paralysis who were implanted with the first-generation neuroprosthesis device Stentrode.

The Stentrode With Thought-Controlled Digital Switch (SWITCH) study, conducted in humans for the first time, evaluated four patients who had Synchron's Stentrode implanted. Patients in the study underwent a 12-month follow-up.

No blood clots or device migration were observed. Signal quality remained stable. Each participant successfully managed a personal computer device using the BCI (Brain Computer Interface). Participants could use the implant to generate digital switches under conscious control to perform day-to-day digital activities such as sending SMS, email, personal finance, online shopping and care communication.

Motor intent has been detected with a robust decoder that looks for power changes in certain frequency bands. Digital switches were performed under the strong-willed control of users who switched frequency bands.

The research was led by Professor Peter Mitchell, a leading neurointerventionist who performed the procedures, and Professor Bruce Campbell, a neurologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne.

2022: Implanting chips into paralysed people to control the computer with the power of thought

In July 2022, Synchron, a brain-computer interface start-up, implanted its first device into a patient in the US, outpacing the NeuralinkElon Musk project.

A startup implanted a 1.5-inch Stentrode device into the brain of a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at Mount Sinai West Medical Center in New York City on July 6, 2022, Bloomberg reported.

Paralysed people get Stentrode chips implanted

The purpose of the device is to give the patient the opportunity to communicate - after he has lost the ability to move - with the help of his thoughts to send emails and texts. Bloomberg reports that Synchron successfully implanted the device in four patients in Australia who were able to send messages WhatsApp to and shop in using a brain implant. Internet

The neuroimplants, developed by a start-up in Australia, received approval from the FDA to conduct medical trials on six US patients who were completely paralysed.

Meanwhile, Neuralink has yet to receive FDA approval, though Musk predicted the company could begin human trials as early as 2020. As recently as 2021, he said the company plans to start implanting its computer chip in humans by 2022. The announcement comes after the billionaire and co-founder of the company shared a video of a monkey playing a video game using only his mind with a Neuralink brain chip.

Earlier in 2022, the co-founder and former president of Neuralink Max Hodak said he had invested in Synchron after leaving Musk's startup.

Synchon and Neuralink implants have similar immediate application options. Both devices are designed to convert a person's thoughts into machine commands and should help patients with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease or ALS.

Neuralink and Synchron products also have several key differences: namely, size and installation. The Australian startup's product can be installed in a person's skull without cutting the skull using a catheter that inserts the device through the jugular vein into a blood vessel in the brain. This process requires two separate operations.

Neuralink, by contrast, plans to create a more compact and powerful device that will require the removal of part of the human skull and will be installed using a robotic device.^[1]

2021: Sending the first Twitter message by force of thought with Stentrode

On December 22, 2021, a Synchron neuroimplant company announced it was sending Twitter messages to Filip O'Keefe, one of the patients brain with a neural interface implanted. O'Keefe is the first person to successfully send a message to the world on social media through thought using a brain implant.

Filip O'Keefe, a 62-year-old man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), successfully turned his thought to text via Twitter, then he sent the message "Hello World" using brain neuroimplant Stentrode.

Filip O'Keefe

When I first heard about the technology, I knew the kind of independence it could give back to me. The system is amazing, it's like learning to ride a bike - it takes practice, but when you ride it becomes natural, "O'Keefe said. - Now I just think about where on the computer I want to click, and I can email, bank, shop, and now even send messages to the world via Twitter.

I hope I pave the way for people to tweet through thoughts - was his closing statement.

O'Keefe took over the Twitter account of Synchron CEO Thomas Oxley, MD, MD, @ tomoxl using the hashtag# HelloWorldBCI. O'Keefe's goal was to share his experience of regaining independence with the world and offer inspiration for the future.

Filip received the Stentrode endovascular interface for the brain in April 2020 after suffering advanced paralysis caused by ALS, which prevented him from engaging in work or other independent activities. From then on, O'Keefe uses the technology to reconnect with his family and business colleagues, continuing to exchange emails and continuing to be active in his consulting and other business projects.

These hilarious holiday tweets are actually a big moment in the field of implantable brain computer interfaces. They highlight the connection, hope and freedom that BCI gives to people like Phil, who have had so much functional independence taken away because of debilitating paralysis, said Thomas Oxley, MD, CEO of Synchron. - We look forward to perfecting our brain computer interface, Stentrode, in the first USA in a human study next year.[2]

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