Safe Retrieval of a Stent-Based Endovascular Neural Recording Array

Abstract

The ability to retrieve a device implanted in humans has implications for the device's safety, efficacy, adoptability, and clinical and applicational flexibility. The Stentrode, a stent-based endovascular neural recording array, is a relatively new modality to capture brain data which accesses the brain in a minimally invasive manner through the body's natural highways (i.e., blood vessels). As we further characterize the safety profile for endovascular neural recording and expand on the existing applications of our endovascular neural recording array, we sought to assess the possibility of retrieving the device following a short implantation period in a Dural sinus. To demonstrate functional neural recording, steady-state visual evoked potentials were captured at 4 and 6 days post-implantation. To demonstrate safety, we analyzed histological sections of the implanted dural sinus and contralateral non-implanted sinus as a within-subject control. We show, in an ovine model, that retrieval of a stent-based endovascular neural recording array from the transverse sinus, following 7 days of implantation and neural data recording, can be performed successfully and safely with minimal effect on animals' general health and the Dural sinuses.