{"id":372582,"date":"2026-07-17T04:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=372582"},"modified":"2026-07-17T04:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:12:24","slug":"chinas-neo-brain-implant-enters-clinical-use-with-first-patient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/chinas-neo-brain-implant-enters-clinical-use-with-first-patient\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s NEO brain implant enters clinical use with first patient"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/neo-mame32.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">NEO<\/a> brain-computer interface, or BCI, has now moved into <strong>clinical use<\/strong> after China approved the device in March 2026. That appears to make this the first surgery anywhere in the world using a BCI cleared for commercial use.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, doctors implanted the coin-sized NEO in a patient whose hand was left paralyzed after a spinal cord injury from a car crash about <strong>10 years<\/strong> ago. The speed of the rollout stands out: in roughly four months, the NEO program went from regulatory clearance to manufacturing, hospital use, patient screening, implantation, and even coverage through local commercial insurance.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NEO uses <strong>eight electrodes<\/strong> placed on the dura mater rather than inside the cortex. That gives it an epidural design that\u2019s less invasive and meant to lower risk and reduce signal degradation, though the tradeoff is less precise data than Neuralink\u2019s intracortical system. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/neuralink-is-looking-for-a-second-participant-for-its-clinical-trial-of-brain-implants\" rel=\"noopener\">Neuralink has tested its device<\/a> in more than 20 people, but it still doesn\u2019t have full FDA approval for commercial use.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Early reports say the patient\u2019s signals are <strong>stable<\/strong> and vital signs remain steady. Still, there\u2019s a lot that has to prove itself from here: rehab, training, durability, cost, side effects, maintenance, and competition from groups such as <a href=\"https:\/\/synchron.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Synchron<\/a>, Paradromics, Science Corp, StairMed, and Gestala.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you follow BCIs, NEO is worth watching. In China, it\u2019s currently available <strong>by prescription<\/strong>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China\u2019s NEO brain-computer interface, or BCI, has now moved into clinical use after China approved the device in March 2026. That appears to make this the first surgery anywhere in the world using a BCI cleared for commercial use. At Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, doctors implanted the coin-sized NEO in a patient whose hand was &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/chinas-neo-brain-implant-enters-clinical-use-with-first-patient\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;China\u2019s NEO brain implant enters clinical use with first patient&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9265,"featured_media":372581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-372582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372583,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372582\/revisions\/372583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372582"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=372582"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=372582"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=372582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}