Brain implant electrode material shows MRI compatibility

Deep brain stimulation involves implanting electrodes into the brain to produce electrical impulses that control abnormal movement, but current implant materials can present anomalies when the patient requires further medical evaluation via an MRI. This is because the metal electrode may react to the magnetic fields and vibrate, generate heat or damage the brain.

Now, a study published in Nature Microsystems & Nanoengineering describes a promising improvement to the procedure developed by San Diego State University engineers, in collaboration with researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany. The SDSU research team created a glassy carbon electrode as an alternative to the metal version, and new findings show it does not react to MRI scans.

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First developed in 2017 in researcher Sam Kassegne's MEMS lab at SDSU, the carbon version is designed to last longer in the brain without corroding or deteriorating and to emit and receive stronger signals. In 2018, the researchers showed that while the metal electrode degrades after 100 million cycles of electrical impulses applied to it, the glassy carbon material survived 3.5 billion cycles.