BrainGate2: Feasibility Study of an Intracortical Neural Interface System for Persons With Tetraplegia

Overview

The purpose of this study is to obtain preliminary device safety information and demonstrate proof of principle (feasibility) of the ability of people with tetraplegia to control a computer cursor and other assistive devices with their thoughts.

Detailed description

The goal of the BrainGate2 research and development project is to identify the core methods and features for a medical device that could allow people with paralysis, including severe speech impairment, to recover a host of abilities that normally rely on the hands or on speech.

Interventions

• Device Placement of the BrainGate2 sensor(s) into the motor-related cortex
  Up to six 4x4 mm BrainGate2 sensor(s) are placed into the motor-related cortex (including speech-related areas of cortex), connected to one, two, or three percutaneous pedestals. Neural recordings are made at least weekly for a year or more.

Primary outcome measures

• The primary endpoint of this Study is to determine the safety of the BrainGate2 Neural Interface System. [Time frame: One year post-implant evaluation period]

Secondary outcome measures (1)

• To investigate the feasibility of BrainGate2 and to establish the parameters for a larger clinical study, such as appropriate neural decoding algorithms, sample size, indices of measurement, success criteria, and endpoints. [Time frame: Course of the study]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of spinal cord injury, brainstem stroke, muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or other motor neuron disorders
• Complete or incomplete tetraplegia (quadriplegia)
• Must live within a three-hour drive of the Study site
• (There are additional inclusion criteria)

Exclusion criteria

• Visual impairment such that extended viewing of a computer monitor would be difficult even with ordinary corrective lenses
• Chronic oral or intravenous steroids or immunosuppressive therapy
• Other serious disease or disorder that could seriously affect ability to participate in the study
• (There are additional exclusion criteria)

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation

N/A

Model

Single group

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Other

Study locations

United States · 6 centers

• University of California, Davis — Sacramento
• Stanford University School of Medicine — Stanford
• Emory University School of Medicine — Atlanta
• Massachusetts General Hospital — Boston
• Providence VA Medical Center — Providence
• Baylor College of Medicine — Houston

Publications

• Hochberg LR, Serruya MD, Friehs GM, Mukand JA, Saleh M, Caplan AH, Branner A, Chen D, Penn RD, Donoghue JP. Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegia. Nature. 2006 Jul 13;442(7099):164-71. doi: 10.1038/nature04970. PMID 16838014
• Donoghue JP, Nurmikko A, Black M, Hochberg LR. Assistive technology and robotic control using motor cortex ensemble-based neural interface systems in humans with tetraplegia. J Physiol. 2007 Mar 15;579(Pt 3):603-11. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2006.127209. Epub 2007 Feb 1. PMID 17272345
• Homer ML, Perge JA, Black MJ, Harrison MT, Cash SS, Hochberg LR. Adaptive offset correction for intracortical brain-computer interfaces. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2014 Mar;22(2):239-48. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2013.2287768. PMID 24196868
• Perge JA, Zhang S, Malik WQ, Homer ML, Cash S, Friehs G, Eskandar EN, Donoghue JP, Hochberg LR. Reliability of directional information in unsorted spikes and local field potentials recorded in human motor cortex. J Neural Eng. 2014 Aug;11(4):046007. doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/11/4/046007. Epub 2014 Jun 12. PMID 24921388
• Masse NY, Jarosiewicz B, Simeral JD, Bacher D, Stavisky SD, Cash SS, Oakley EM, Berhanu E, Eskandar E, Friehs G, Hochberg LR, Donoghue JP. Non-causal spike filtering improves decoding of movement intention for intracortical BCIs. J Neurosci Methods. 2014 Oct 30;236:58-67. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2014.08.004. Epub 2014 Aug 13. PMID 25128256
• Malik WQ, Hochberg LR, Donoghue JP, Brown EN. Modulation depth estimation and variable selection in state-space models for neural interfaces. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2015 Feb;62(2):570-81. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2014.2360393. Epub 2014 Sep 26. PMID 25265627
• Pandarinath C, Gilja V, Blabe CH, Nuyujukian P, Sarma AA, Sorice BL, Eskandar EN, Hochberg LR, Henderson JM, Shenoy KV. Neural population dynamics in human motor cortex during movements in people with ALS. Elife. 2015 Jun 23;4:e07436. doi: 10.7554/eLife.07436. PMID 26099302
• Pandarinath C, O'Shea DJ, Collins J, Jozefowicz R, Stavisky SD, Kao JC, Trautmann EM, Kaufman MT, Ryu SI, Hochberg LR, Henderson JM, Shenoy KV, Abbott LF, Sussillo D. Inferring single-trial neural population dynamics using sequential auto-encoders. Nat Methods. 2018 Oct;15(10):805-815. doi: 10.1038/s41592-018-0109-9. Epub 2018 Sep 17. PMID 30224673

Identifiers

NCT: NCT00912041 · MGH-BG2-TP-001 · R01DC009899 · UH2NS095548 · A2295-R · U01NS123101 · R01DC014034 · U01DC017844 · CDMRP-AL220043 · A4820-R

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗