Stephen Cass: Hi. Youre listening to IEEE Spectrums Techwise Conversations, and Im your host, Stephen Cass.
Back in 1972, Michael Crichton published the technothriller The Terminal Man, later made into a movie of the same name. The plot centered on a man who was implanted with a microcomputer to predict and control his epileptic seizures. Unsurprisingly, this being a Crichton novel, things dont go too well.
But now, 40 years later, the FDA looks close to finally approving a real-life implant to control epilepsy, and which, unlike the science-fiction version, has performed well in clinical trials, safely easing the symptoms of many patients.
My guest today is Frank Fischer, the CEO of NeuroPace, the maker of the new so-called RNS implant. He joins me by phone from his office in Mountain View, California.
Frank, welcome to the podcast.
Frank Fischer: Thank you, Stephen.
Stephen Cass: So many listeners will be somewhat familiar with the kind of deep-brain stimulation that is used to treat Parkinsons disease. How is the RNS implant different?
Frank Fischer: We utilize whats known as responsive neurostimulation, whereas the Parkinson implant either delivers stimulation continuouslywell, for Parkinsons, it typically is continuous stimulationand what we do is, once the system is implanted, it is tuned to look for the patients specific abnormal electrical activity that may lead to a seizure, and once that pattern is detected, and it could be one or two patterns for a given patient, basically the device then delivers imperceptible levels of stimulation to disrupt that abnormal activity so it does not get picked up by essentially the rest of the brain, resulting in a seizure. So, whereas for, lets say, a Parkinsons implant, where there may be stimulation for 24 hours in a 24-hour period, for patients that we have that have high degrees of what is known as electroform activity, the device may deliver 5 minutes of stimulation in a 24-[hour] period. So thats the basic conceptual difference.
Stephen Cass: So is the implant actually put into the brain? Where are the electrodes implanted? And I understand theres a range of places you can place those electrodes.
Frank Fischer: Yeah, we have patients in our clinical trials that have epileptic foci in many different parts of the brain, and so the device itself is placed in the skull. Its the same thickness of the skull and curved, so it replaces a part of the skull, and it is connected to two leadsinsulated wires with electrodes on the endand those electrodes are placed near the patients epileptic foci. Were able to treat patients with one or two foci, and therefore place the leads near one or both foci.
See original here:
NeuroPace: Controlling Epilepsy With a Brain Implant