BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Under the intently watched eyes of a patient, a small red ball slowly moves, approaches and coincides with the blue ball on the other end of the screen — this is not a scene from a science fiction movie. Recently, the team of Professor Jia Wang of the Department of Neurosurgery of Beijing Tiantan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University and the team of Professor Hong Bo of Tsinghua University successfully used minimally invasive brain-computer interface to help high paraplegic patients realize mind-controlled cursor movement for the first time, which means that China has made a new breakthrough in the field of brain-computer interface.
The patient is a 35-year-old young male who suffered from an accident that resulted in high cervical paraplegia 5 years ago and completely lost his ability to take care of himself. On December 19 last year, Jia Wang's team successfully carried out minimally invasive wireless brain-computer interface implantation surgery for the patient, implanted the miniature brain-computer interface processor into the patient's skull, and successfully collected the neural signals of the sensorimotor brain area outside the meninges. The patient was discharged from the hospital on the 10th day after surgery.
Jia Wang introduced that after the patient stayed at home, the research team trained him with wireless brain-computer interface assistance through remote guidance. The system wirelessly supplies power to the internal machine through the patient's scalp through the external machine, realizes the transmission of neuroelectrophysiological data, and translates the EEG signals into the control instructions of external devices. After nearly two months** of training, the patient was able to not only grasp the water bottle with a pneumatic glove driven by mental activity, but also control the cursor movement on the computer screen.
The red ball 'chases' the blue ball, and the seemingly simple action means that the patient interacts with the technology and electronic products through brain-computer interfaces. Jia Wang said that this function can be achieved thanks to the precise positioning and implantation of electrodes and the efficient transmission and accurate decoding of neurophysiological signals.
Hong Bo introduced that at present, the team is continuously optimizing the brain-computer interface decoding algorithm, and plans to help patients realize the control of e-book page turning and cursor click confirmation through ideological activities, so as to enhance the interaction ability of patients with electronic devices. "The successful implantation of minimally invasive wireless brain-computer interface and the realization of the mind control cursor are expected to provide a new direction for patients with neurological dysfunctions such as high paraplegia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and bring new hope for patients to recover their physiological functions and return to society. ”
Brain-computer interface refers to the connection pathway created between the human or animal brain and external devices, and realizes the information exchange between the brain and the device by recording and interpreting brain signals. Previously, the minimally invasive wireless brain-computer interface was successfully used in Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University to enable a quadriplegic patient to achieve brain control functions such as autonomous grasping.
*:Xinhua.