Devices

Endovascular stent-electrode BCI from Duan Feng's group at Nankai University, with a subcutaneous wireless power and transmission unit. Sheep (2022), non-human primate (2023), sensor retrieval in sheep (2024) and a first human implant in a stroke patient (2025). Electrode geometry and materials are not published in the sources read.

Catalog specification sheet - Endovascular

Nankai / Rongyuan interventional (stent-electrode) BCI

Primary source →

Record ID
BTSD-ACAD-0091
Reviewed
2026-10-09
Interface
endovascular
Evidence stage
human

Independent, source-linked catalog sheet. Not a manufacturer-issued datasheet, regulatory decision or instructions for clinical use. Human evidence does not establish approval. Source-specific restrictions, conflicts and missing specifications are retained below.

Nankai / Rongyuan interventional (stent-electrode) BCI

Company brief: Tianjin Rongyuan.

This is a different system from the Stentrode; the Chinese group describes its own “interventional BCI” sensors, stents, catheters and wireless unit as independently developed. Nearly everything below comes from Nankai University news pages and one peer-reviewed abstract. No paper describing the human device’s electrode geometry, materials or channel count was found, so those cells are blank.

Identity

FieldValue and source scope
DeviceIntravascular stent-electrode array, subcutaneous wireless transmission and power unit, with functional electrical stimulation in the human trial [1][2]
OriginDuan Feng’s team, Nankai University (School of Medicine, College of Artificial Intelligence); commercial vehicle Tianjin Rongyuan Intelligent Technology, founded April 2023 per the Nankai District government [1][4]
Interface classEndovascular, placed by neck catheter on the intracranial vessel wall [1]
Species studiedSheep, one non-human primate trial (macaque, jugular access), one human [1][2][3]
Regulatory statusInvestigational; registry record ChiCTR2400093125 funded by Rongyuan, one subject, registered 2024-11-28 [5]

Milestones (institutional reporting)

DateEvent
June 25, 2022First Chinese interventional BCI animal trial, in sheep: endovascular EEG electrodes and acquisition [2]
May 4, 2023Non-human primate trial; electrodes introduced through the jugular vein, no craniotomy; robotic-arm control by the animal [2][3]
August 2024Sensor and wireless module removed endovascularly from a sheep under DSA guidance, no rejection reported [2][3]
2025First human: 67-year-old man, left-limb paralysis for six months after cerebral infarction, Fujian Sanbo Funeng Brain Hospital; stent-electrode array on the intracranial vessel wall plus a subcutaneous wireless unit; no infection or thrombosis reported; combined with FES in a closed loop; patient regained grasping [1]

Dates: the English Nankai page is dated July 3, 2025 on the page and September 2025 in its URL; the Nankai District government page is dated August 2025. The paper trail disagrees, so no single date is asserted.

Geometry and architecture

FieldValue and source scope
Electrode count
Stent diameter and length
Electrode material
Implant locationIntracranial vessel wall; superior sagittal sinus over motor cortex in the sheep EEG study [1][6]
Wireless unitImplanted subcutaneously; carries power and signal [1][2]

Performance envelope

FieldValue and source scope
Sheep chronic studyMotor-cortex signals from the superior sagittal sinus for five months without a drop in main-band power; deep-learning classification of lying, standing and walking reached 86% on the fourth month held out (IEEE TNSRE, abstract only) [6]
HumanStable signal collection and interactive control reported by the university; no decoding accuracy or channel figures published in the sources read [1]

Nankai University holds a granted Dutch patent, NL2038311B1, “Interventional electroencephalogram acquisition and electrical stimulation method and device” (filed July 24, 2024; inventors include Duan Feng) [7]. A separate Chinese application for a needle-type stent electrode, CN119970047A, belongs to the Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University (inventors Wu Yong, Wang Shengzhang) and is not attributed to this system.

Limits

University press pages and an abstract only; the TNSRE full text and the patent text were not read. Electrode geometry, materials, impedance and the human result details are blank until a paper is found. Nankai’s 2026 project page lists carbon-based electrode materials and flexible encapsulation as research goals, not a finished design [8].

References

  1. Nankai University, Team achieves world’s first motor function restoration in impaired limbs via interventional BCI.
  2. Nankai University, Global first trial of endovascular removal of an interventional BCI sensor.
  3. Tianjin Daily via Nankai News (Chinese), 南开大学团队完成全球首例介入式脑机接口传感器血管内取出试验, 17 August 2024.
  4. Nankai District government (Chinese), 全球首例！介入式脑机接口助偏瘫患者重获运动能力.
  5. ChiCTR2400093125.
  6. Li S, Liu G, Feng F, Chang Z, Li W, Duan F, An Interventional Brain-Computer Interface for Long-Term EEG Collection and Motion Classification of a Quadruped Mammal, IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng (2025), PMID 40257874, IEEE Xplore.
  7. Nankai University IP office, NL2038311.
  8. Nankai University (Chinese), 介入式脑机接口材料-器件-系统一体化研究项目简介, 27 May 2026.