On July 29, Anhui Province issued its first medical prescription for a brain-computer interface (BCI), with the corresponding implantation surgery successfully performed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. This marks the first such operation in Anhui Province following the National Medical Products Administration’s approval of implantable BCI devices for commercial launch.

The patient, Ms. Wang, a 39-year-old former designer, suffered a cervical spinal cord injury in a car accident one year ago, resulting in paralysis of both hands and lower limbs. Drawing on her professional background, she has an urgent desire to regain hand mobility. During the surgery, an electroencephalogram signal collector fitted with two slender electrode probes was implanted inside Ms. Wang’s skull. Professor Cai Qiang, Director of the Department of Neurosurgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and lead surgeon of the operation, stated that the surgery aims to restore the patient’s motor function in her hands. “The operation is carried out outside the cerebral meninges, avoiding damage to brain tissue and minimizing surgical trauma and risks.”

China has more than 3.7 million patients living with spinal cord injuries, with around 90,000 new cases recorded each year. Severe spinal cord damage frequently triggers impaired hand function, and conventional medications and rehabilitation therapies deliver limited therapeutic effects. Brain-computer interface technology opens new avenues for treatment for such patients. Notably, the implant device used in this surgery is independently developed in China. It is the world’s first and currently only implantable BCI device to obtain a Class III medical device registration certificate. Compared with experimental clinical trials, the surgery boasts more reliable safety and treatment outcomes.

Ms. Wang is the third patient nationwide to receive implantation of this certified BCI product, and the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University is the second medical institution in China authorized to carry out clinical applications of this BCI surgery.

Source: Anhui Daily

Translated by Shao Hanzhe, intern