Article source: Finn Blackwell, RNZ
A patient in a clinical brain implant trial says the world-first technology has reduced her anxiety around her symptoms.
Clinical trials are underway for a neural implant to monitor brain pressure in those living with hydrocephalus.
The condition causes fluid to build up in the brain which, if untreated, can be fatal.
Patients can be born with hydrocephalus or develop it later in life.
It is typically treated with a small tube, called a shunt, implanted under the skin which drains fluid from the brain into the stomach.
However, shunts had a 50 percent chance of failure in the first two years.
To tackle this, researchers at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and Kitea Health developed an implant to measure pressure in the brain using an external, wireless wand.
The implant is only two by three millimetres in width, 20 millimetres long, and weighs 0.3 of a gram.
Clinical trials in adults are about 50 percent complete, and trials on children have begun.
It is a world first, the smallest brain implant ever developed, as well as the first implantable medical device developed in New Zealand.
Student nurse and triallist Jessica Grainger was diagnosed with hydrocephalus in 2023, after three years of migraines.
Her first shunt failed in October 2024, after which she signed up for the clinical trial.
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