There’s a lot to like about brain-computer interfaces, sci-fi-sounding devices that jack into your skull and convert neural signals into software commands. Experimental BCI helps people with paralysis communicate, use the internet, and move with prosthetic limbs. In recent years, devices have also become wireless. If mind-reading computers become part of everyday life, doctors will need to install tiny electrodes and transmitters to make them work. So if you’re strong-armed and don’t mind a little blood, being a BCI surgeon might be the job for you.
Shahram MajidiThe neurosurgeon at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital began performing the procedure in a clinical trial of a BCI called StentLoad in 2022. (This is a tube-like “stent” that often stays inside a vein or artery). Here he is talking about something that is not the case. – In the all-too-distant future, where he performs hundreds of similar surgeries a year.
Brain-computer interfaces include They have been around for decades and there are now many different types of implants. Some have wires sticking out of their heads, connected to computers, and electrodes attached to their brains. I think this is great as a proof of concept, but it requires an engineer sitting there and a big computer next to him at all times. It cannot be used only in the bedroom. The advantage of his BCI, like his Stentrode that I’ve been working on, is that nothing sticks out of the brain. The electrodes are located in blood vessels next to the brain and are accessed through the patient’s carotid artery. The receiver is located under the skin on the chest and is connected via Bluetooth to a device that decodes brain signals. I think that’s the future.
It is a minimally invasive surgery. No need to open the skull. There is no need to invade the structure of the brain. Deploying a stent into a blood vessel in the brain is something I’ve done thousands of times in other surgeries, but this time we’re deploying a device that records specific signals coming from a very specific location in the brain. In order for it to work properly, you will need to inject the implant with the most precision you have ever learned. It usually takes less than three hours from the time you enter the hospital room until the end of the surgery to check the equipment.
The patients we enroll in these trials have severe disabilities. They are paralyzed by diseases such as ALS. They are bedridden. Just getting them to the hospital can be a daunting task. So I was able to visit all her BCI patients in their homes and talk to them about this device and how it works. It’s an exciting moment for patients and their families, but it’s also important to have expectations.
Surgical planning for BCI implants is very sophisticated compared to other routine procedures I perform as a neurosurgeon. Before surgery, my team and I practice with a model to ensure we understand all steps and protocols. There is literally very little margin for error. (Neuralink is developing robots to install BCIs, but I’m not worried about robots coming to my job.) It will always take humans to advance the field and perform accurate procedures. We need surgeons and scientists.)