Elon Musk's Neuralink has been collecting the brain activity of three patients with physical paralysis as electrical signals since last year, performing surgery to implant chips that transmit signals to their paralyzed bodies. Physical paralysis is currently an incurable disease with no effective treatment, but patients have successfully operated computers using only their thoughts thanks to the chips. However, there are concerns about side effects, such as the chips contracting within the patients' brains or some electrodes falling out. The scientific community is focusing on ultrasound-based brain-computer interface (BCI) technology as a solution to the side effects of electrical brain stimulation.
According to major foreign news outlets, including The Guardian, on the 23rd, the National Health Service (NHS) of the United Kingdom is promoting a clinical trial to verify the efficacy and safety of a technology that measures brain activity using ultrasound and stimulates specific brain nerve cells. It is expected to open a path to manage and treat brain diseases more safely than existing BCIs that use electrical stimulation.
This clinical trial involves inserting or attaching an ultrasound device developed by the nonprofit organization Forest Neurotech into the patients' brains or onto their scalps to read brain activity and confirm its effect on stimulating nerve cells. Researchers will verify whether the ultrasound device can measure brain activity in 3D or stimulate brain nerve cells to regulate mood. The ultimate goal is to determine whether ultrasound can be used to diagnose or treat emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders instead of electrical stimulation.
The research team plans to start the clinical trial in March and continue it for about three and a half years. The initial clinical trials will target patients with skull fractures, using ultrasound devices attached to their scalps. After confirming the brain activity measurement and stimulation effects of the ultrasound device without brain surgery, they will proceed to a formal clinical trial involving 30 patients with emotional disorders if safety and efficacy are confirmed.
Aimun Jamjoom, a neurosurgery consultant at BHR Hospital in the United Kingdom, noted, "One-third of patients with emotional disorders, including depression, do not respond to existing treatments," adding, "It is expected that using ultrasound will allow us to safely apply BCI technology to treat patients."
BCI refers to technology that directly connects the brain and a computer to understand human intentions or control surrounding devices. It has gained attention as a next-generation rehabilitation and treatment technology that reads the brain signals of patients whose bodies are paralyzed due to nerve damage and transmits signals to muscles. This clinical trial is expected to lead to the development of alternative technologies for BCI that stimulate nerve cells and measure brain activity signals using electrical signals.
The technology for measuring and stimulating brain signals using ultrasound is gaining attention in the medical community. In order for BCI to measure brain activity using electrical signals, a chip must be implanted inside the skull. In contrast, ultrasound can detect changes in the brain's blood vessels from outside the brain, leading to a perception of superior safety. It can obtain 100 times higher 3D brain vascular maps compared to medical functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Using this, it is possible to measure which brain areas are activated. Focusing ultrasound on specific brain areas can activate desired nerve cells and regulate brain activity.
In South Korea, research is also being conducted on using ultrasound to treat brain diseases instead of electrical stimulation. A research team led by Professor Jang Jin-woo at Korea University Anam Hospital, in collaboration with Incheon Cham Sarah Hospital and Catholic University, is studying technology to treat drug addiction by stimulating the brain with ultrasound. The research team announced on the 2nd that they would begin the world's first clinical trial of high-intensity ultrasound brain surgery for the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. While attempts have been made in the past to treat drug addiction through electrical stimulation, using ultrasound is expected to allow for safer treatment of addiction disorders without surgery.
Professor Jang Jin-woo stated, "We will safely stimulate and regulate the brains of addiction patients with high-intensity ultrasound to find a way for them to return to everyday life."
On the 20th, Professor Jang Jin-woo also revealed that he successfully opened the blood-brain barrier (BBB) of Alzheimer's patients using ultrasound, reducing amyloid-beta clusters. Additionally, a joint research team from the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) developed technology to treat epilepsy through ultrasound stimulation, which was announced in September of last year.