Endovascular stent electrode

A brain-signal sensor on a stent-like mesh, delivered through blood vessels to rest beside the brain with no open-skull surgery.

• It is guided up from a neck vein into a large vein over the motor cortex, using catheter techniques from stroke treatment.
• The mesh expands against the vessel wall and is overgrown by it within weeks; a lead runs to a unit in the chest, like a pacemaker.
• Synchron's Stentrode has 16 electrodes and lets trial patients text, email and browse by thought.
• The vessel wall filters signals and only nearby veins are reachable, so it suits discrete clicks rather than fine continuous control.