Hi-tech and healthcare, an Italian idea to revolutionize diagnosis of incurable neurological conditions
Economia

Hi-tech and healthcare, an Italian idea to revolutionize diagnosis of incurable neurological conditions

How Cortera Neurotechnologies can reduce the risk of infection caused by major invasive surgery for the 30% of epilepsy sufferers who are unable to take medication

A very young and ambitious team made by an Italian, an American and a Russian researcher has recently launched a new start up aimed at revolutionizing the treatment of incurable neurological conditions. The mission of Cortera Neurotechnologiesis indeed to deliver innovative products that improve patient care, quality of life and advance neuroscientific research.

With the help of highly developed neural interface technology, Cortera might soon be able to significantly reduce the risk of infection caused by major invasive surgery for the 30% of epilepsy sufferers who are unable to take medication.

In particular, this new technology has the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of some neurological conditions as well as enabling cutting-edge neuroscience research. The new device is expected to enable the minimally invasive readout of signals from the brain, and these signals can also be used in research labs to study neurological disorders or in the clinic to detect and localize seizures.

As Cortera's team explained, "today, most of clinics use large, wired, require and invasive procedure to implant and leave the patient at risk of infection and unable to move." Their solution, instead, would replace "large wired sensors with a small wireless implant. The device will be small and flexible, therefore easy to implant, and will allow closure of the surgical site greatly diminishing the risk of infection. Perhaps the most important feature is that it allows the patient to go about their daily life outside of the hospital, untethered and unencumbered."

Several specialists have already praised this new device as "the enabling technology for turning thoughts into speech for stroke patients who have lost the ability, and for turning thoughts into movement to build motor prosthetics for the paralyzed."

Rikky Muller, Simone Gambini and Peter Ledochowitsch are now in the process of translating their technology into a commercial medical device, with the financial support of government grants and charitable foundations.

Follow @castaritaHK

I più letti

avatar-icon

Claudia Astarita

Amo l'Asia in (quasi) tutte le sue sfaccettature, ecco perché cerco di trascorrerci più tempo possibile. Dopo aver lavorato per anni come ricercatrice a New Delhi e Hong Kong, per qualche anno osserverò l'Oriente dalla quella che è considerata essere la città più vivibile del mondo: Melbourne. Insegno Culture and Business Practice in Asia ad RMIT University,  Asia and the World a The University of Melbourne e mi occupo di India per il Centro Militare di Studi Strategici di Roma. Su Twitter mi trovate a @castaritaHK, via email a astarita@graduate.hku.hk

Read More