Guidewire-driven deployment of high density ECoG arrays for large area brain-computer interface

TL;DR

This paper introduces a guidewire-driven, minimally invasive deployable ECoG array with high electrode density for large-area brain interfaces, enabling high-quality neural recordings and overcoming current device trade-offs.

Contribution

The study presents a novel guidewire-driven deployment method for a high-density, flexible ECoG array that can be implanted minimally invasively and provides high-quality neural signals.

Findings

Successfully deployed on canine brain with high-quality neural signals

Achieved over 80% accuracy in sound classification tasks

Device is biocompatible and suitable for chronic monitoring

Abstract

Electrocorticographic brain computer interfaces are powerful emergent technologies for advancing basic neuroscience research and targeted clinical interventions. However, existing devices require trade-offs between coverage area, electrode density, surgical invasiveness and complication risk: limitations that fail to meet the demands of next-generation BCI. Here, we report a guidewire-driven deployable ECoG BCI device that can be epidurally implanted using minimally invasive procedures. Our ultra-flexible but strong thin-film electrode array, which packs 256 electrodes into 4 cm2, can be folded, pulled through millimetre-sized skull holes, and unfurled seamlessly onto the brain dura mater. When deployed on the canine brain, it captures abundant high-quality auditory neural signals with distinct features of hearing that can be used to classify sound types with over 80% accuracy using various standard machine learning models. Our device is biocompatible for chronic monitoring, easy and fast to deploy and importantly, resolves the key trade-offs limiting current BCI technologies.