Paralyzed patient undergoes first BCI surgery at Tongji Medical College

(ECNS) -- A 55-year-old woman with high-level quadriplegia has become the first patient at Tongji Medical College in Wuhan, Hubei Province, to undergo fully invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) surgery, the hospital said Thursday.

The patient, identified by the pseudonym Hu Damin, has been bedridden for two years following a spinal cord injury. Doctors implanted eight ultraflexible electrodes into her motor cortex. Each electrode, dozens of times thinner than a human hair, can capture neural signals linked to her intention to move.

The BCI system is designed to bypass the damaged spinal cord and translate brain signals into commands for devices such as computer cursors, smartphones and wheelchairs. Through rehabilitation training, doctors hope to help her regain fine motor functions in her upper limbs.

The implanted device is reportedly China's first high-throughput BCI product capable of recording single-neuron-level signals and has been recognized as an innovative medical device by the National Medical Products Administration.

The surgery marks Tongji Medical College as one of the Chinese medical institutions capable of conducting clinical translation of fully invasive, minimally invasive and non-invasive BCI technologies.

(By Gong Weiwei)