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Lawrence Coles (University of Cambridge).
Measuring brain electrical activity is essential to accurately diagnose and treat conditions such as epilepsy. However, this often requires surgeons to cut out a large window in the skull (a craniotomy) to place electrodes directly onto the brain surface. This highly invasive procedure typically entails a prolonged recovery period, and poses severe infection risks
The new study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrated that using a folding design for brain electrodes could reduce the incision area needed by about five times, without affecting functionality.
Senior author Associate Professor Christopher Proctor (Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford) said: ‘This study presents a new approach to directly interfacing with large areas of the brain through a key-hole like surgery. The potential significance of this work is two-fold. First, there is the promise of a less invasive diagnostic tool for epilepsy patients. Second, we envision the minimally invasive nature will enable new applications in brain machine interfaces.’