Tetraplegic Motor Dysfunction Following Brainstem or Spinal Cord Injury

This research study is being done to develop a novel brain-computer interface (BCI) technology that can enable severely paralyzed individuals to interact with the world through direct brain-control of a computer. This technology is named MindEx (for Mind Extender). It utilizes four implanted "chips" in the human brain from which investigators can record brain activity during subjects' thoughts and decode meaningful information from this activity to be used as control signals for a computer, a laptop, or a tablet. The use of four brain regions is a significant differentiating feature and scientific innovation of this study over much prior work in this space, that typically derived control signals from one, or sometimes two brain regions. The brain regions to be used here can allow the decode of multiple variables simultaneously, including not just moment-to-moment position, but also high-level goals, intentions, decisions, scene comprehension, and error-related signals involved in natural human behavior. The research is being done through a prospective, longitudinal, single-arm early feasibility study to examine the safety and effectiveness of using MindEx to provide the user an intuitive, efficient, and accurate ability to control multiple applications on a computer interface such as a word processor, a paint application, or to play simple video games. Such versatility could greatly improve the autonomy and quality of life of severely paralyzed individuals. Two subjects will be enrolled, each implanted with MindEx for a period of at least 53 weeks and up to 313 weeks. The study is expected to take at least one year and up to six years in total.

This is an open-label single-arm clinical study conducted at designated clinical trial institutions, with three overall phases: a 3-month main study, a 3-month extension, and a 3-month follow-up. The main study includes screening/baseline, preoperative preparation, surgery, upper limb rehabilitation adjustment, and pneumatic hand function training-specifically, preoperative brain and spinal cord imaging for electrode placement in eligible subjects, implantation of high-channel electrodes, and postoperative combined rehabilitation to build a motor intention decoding model that drives the pneumatic hand to grasp. The extension phase focuses on precise assessment of upper limb grasping function, signal stability monitoring, implantation of epidural spinal cord test electrodes, and closed-loop regulated epidural electrical stimulation for limb rehabilitation using implanted intracranial electrode signals. The follow-up phase involves intracranial electrode removal, implantation of long-term epidural spinal cord electrodes, and limb rehabilitation training and observation based on scalp EEG signals.