Fully implantable wireless multi-electrode ECoG monitoring system

全世界大约有5000万人患有癫痫。癫痫是第三种最常见的神经疾病，在给社会造成的代价方面排名第二。大约15%的癫痫患者接受了脑部癫痫发作源的手术切除。术前评估是为了定位病灶，并确保在不产生神经功能缺陷的情况下完成切除。这些常规的手术包括在大脑皮层植入一个皮层脑电(ECoG)电极阵列，持续数周。在此期间，来自ECoG电极的导线必须连接到台式电生理设备。结果，患者不得不被拴住，这使得这种方法既麻烦又不安全。此外，在整个手术过程中，患者的头骨必须打开，这增加了感染的风险。拟议的完全可植入的无线ECoG系统将允许患者在接受癫痫病灶定位和脑功能评估的观察期间自由行动，消除感染或再植入的风险。运动障碍，如慢性中风导致的瘫痪、脊髓损伤和肌萎缩侧索硬化症(ALS)也很普遍，给社会带来了高昂的代价。感觉-运动障碍患者可以通过使用完全植入的ECoG脑机接口(BCI)进行治疗或显著提高他们的生活质量。我们建议开发一种256个电极的全集成无线ECoG监测系统，这将是临床神经监测的革命性变化。我们将开发一种植入式微芯片，它可以进行可编程的神经信号记录和神经刺激，并通过皮肤将记录的神经数据无线发送到计算机。电源和控制命令也会以无线方式发送到芯片。我们将把芯片与表面和深度电极阵列集成在一起，提供一种新的能力，在大脑中的256个位置远程记录和刺激。我们将把研究结果传递给加拿大的神经学家和神经外科医生、神经调节公司、癫痫和脑梗塞社区，以及许多可能从这项技术中受益的患者。

Approximately 50 million people worldwide are epileptic. Epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder, and ranks second in terms of costs to society. Approximately 15% of epilepsy patients undergo surgical resection of the source of the seizures in the brain. Preoperative assessments are done to localize the focus, and to ensure that the resection can be accomplished without producing neurological deficits. These conventional procedures involve implanting an electrocorticography (ECoG) electrode array over the cortex for several weeks. During this time wires from the ECoG electrodes have to be connected to bench-top electrophysiological equipment. As a result, patients have to be tethered making this approach cumbersome and unsafe. Also, the patients skull has to be opened during the entire time of the procedure which increases the risk of infection. The proposed fully implantable wireless ECoG system will allow patients to move freely and eliminate the risk of infection or reimplantation while under observation for epilepsy focus localization and brain function assessment. Motor disabilities such as paralysis due to chronic stroke, spinal cord injury, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are also prevalent and costly to society. Patients with sensory-motor disabilities can be treated or significantly improve quality of their life by using a fully implanted wireless ECoG brain-computer interface (BCI). We propose to develop a 256-electrode fully integrated wireless ECoG monitoring system which will revolutionize clinical neuromonitoring. We will develop an implantable microchip that performs programmable neural signal recording and neural stimulation and sends recorded neural data wirelessly through skin to a computer. Power and control commands are also sent to the chip wirelessly. We will integrate the chip with surface and depth electrode arrays to deliver a novel capability to remotely record and stimulate at 256 sites in the brain. We will translate the results to Canadian neurologists and neurosurgeons, neuromodulation companies, epilepsy and BCI communities, and to the many patients who may benefit from this technology.