Neural devices stimulate growing market
Rick Merritt
11/12/2010 1:33 PM EST
SAN JOSE, Calif. – A startup hopes to get regulatory approval soon to sell what could be its first of a family of neural implants it envisions. The work at NeuroPace is just one part of an emerging neural device sector poised for significant growth.
After a decade of development NeuroPace (Mountain View, Calif.) submitted its request to the U.S. FDA in July for a brain implant to treat epilepsy. The company hopes its RNS system could be approved for use within a year.
"Over the next decade, I believe a variety of closed and open loop brain stimulation devices will replace destructive [surgical] procedures," said Martha Morrell, chief medical officer at NeuroPace in a talk at the BioMedDevice Forum here.
Trials with the epilepsy implant has given researchers new insights into the technology's potential to serve conditions ranging from pain management and depression to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.
"This is the first time we could look into the brain and see what's happening in real time," Morrell said. "We see this as a disease management tool," she said.
The RNS implant, which uses two custom chips, found abnormal brain activity in epilepsy patients was more extensive than previously thought.
"No one had ambulatory records of epileptic patients before, and it turned out the seizure was just the tip of iceberg," she said. "We found these patients need stimulation as much as 600 times a day for periods of typically 1-2 minutes," she added.
Doctors can program the device to sense and respond to a broad range of conditions. NeuroPace also maintains a database for long term studies of brain wave activity.
Morrell said she sees the potential for devices that deliver tiny doses of drugs as well as electrical stimulation to targeted areas of the brain. New electrode arrays and sensors will help expand the field of conditions such devices can address. Beyond brain waves, researchers are studying the flow in the brain of blood, oxygen, neural transmitters—and even temperature changes--as other ways to influence conditions.
Comments
Luis Sanchez
11/12/2010 5:00 PM EST
This makes me think of a day where complete mind control will be possible.
It will soon happen that equipment such as Emotiv becomes a common user interface.
This technology enables the continual study of the brain waves and a recognition of patterns will thus enable the establishment of commands that will trigger the lights power on, of, answer the phone incoming call or reject it or turn left and right on your vehicle... but... having no need for the hands... wouldn't that become boring? :).
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