Representative image of a human brain
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THe NHS is set to conduct a new, innovative trial to find out if a brain implant can improve a patient's mood using a brain-computer combination by directly making changes to the brain activity through an ultrasound.
The implant will be placed below the skull but outside the brain, which plans brain activity and delivers ultrasound pulses to turn on a batch of neurons.
According to a report by The Guardian, the device's safety and ability of tolerance will be tested at a cost of £6.5 million ($79,35,850) over 30 patients.
The trial is being funded by the United Kingdom's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA).
ARIA's Programme Director Jacques Carolan said, "Neurotechnologies can help a much broader range of people than we thought. Helping with treatment resistant depression, epilepsy, addiction, eating disorders, that is the huge opportunity here. We are at a turning point in both the conditions we hope we can treat and the new types of technologies emerging to do that."
The trial is following a rapid advancement in brain-computer-interface (BCI) technology along with a clinical trial launched by Tesla CEO Elon Musk's firm Neuralink, for patients having paralysis.
Another study is also being followed which is restoring communication for stroke hit patients by translation of their thoughts directly into speech.
Nonetheless, new medical technologies do come along with ownership, data privacy, ethical issues and risk of neuro-discrimination.
According to the publication's report, Clare Elwell, who is a professor of medical physics at UCL, said, "These innovations could be really fast-moving from a technical perspective, but we’re lagging behind on addressing neuroethical issues. We’re now accessing neural pathways in a way that we haven’t been able to do before, so we need to carefully consider the clinical impact of any intervention and ensure we always act in the best interests of the patient."
Created by US based Forest Neurotech, the implant will be tested during the NHS trial.
Forest I will be using ultrasound to read the brain activities to modify them, which is in contrast with those invasive implants which require electrodes being placed inside the brain at a specific location.
According to The Guardian, ARIA describes the implant as 'the most advanced BCI in the world' as it is able to modify functionality of the brain across various regions.
BCI improve and increase future brain implants for patients suffering from depression, anxiety and epilepsy which are considered 'circuit level' conditions.
According to the publication's report, Aimun Jamjoom, a consultant neurosurgeon at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge university hospitals NHS trust said, "This is a less invasive technique and the ability to offer a safer form of surgery is very exciting. If you look at conditions like depression or epilepsy, [up to] a third of these patients just don’t get better. It’s those groups where a technology like this could be a life-changing solution."
Patients who have got some part of their brain removed due to any brain injury will also be engaged in the trial making way for a possibility that the implant can also be tested without a surgery.
When the implant is placed under the skull, the ultrasound can learn and locate even the slightest change in the blood flow visible in 3D maps under a resolution of about 100 times than an average fMRI scan.
The people who will be recruited for the trial will have to wear the implant upon their scalp for about 2 hours, after which their brain activity will be recorded and later tested if the patient's mood can be changed.
According to The Guardian, about the brain tissues heating up during the ultrasound, a neuroscientist at the University of Plymouth, Elsa Fouragnan said, "What we’re trying to minimise is heat. There’s a safety and efficacy trade-off. It would also be important to ensure that personality or decision-making were not altered in unintended ways – for instance, making someone more impulsive."
The trial which will commence in March will continue for about three and a half years, with its main focus on securing a regular approval in the first 8 months.
Forest will move onto clinical trials of implants for depression if the NHS trail succeeds.