Trials

A trial of a dual-task brain-computer interface (BCI) combining motor-intention detection with virtual reality training is recruiting patients to measure how it affects shoulder function after rotator cuff repair surgery, following its registration with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) on April 20, 2026. The record has been reposted by the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP).

Johns Hopkins University has launched the INTENT clinical trial to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of an implantable device that records and stimulates different brain areas, enabling adults with disabling paralysis to control assistive devices and receive feedback. The trial is now recruiting participants with conditions including tetraplegia, ALS, brain stem stroke, and spinal cord injury. Johns Hopkins is a leading U.S. research university whose medical school is renowned in neuroscience. The trial was first posted on ClinicalTrials.gov on April 13, 2026, and is currently recruiting.

A trial registered in China pairs brain-computer interface technology with mindfulness meditation training for adolescents with depression, recording EEG alongside the sessions to see how brain activity changes. The question is whether real-time brain signals can be read during meditation and fed back into the training, making the intervention more responsive to each participant's state. Recruitment has not yet started, and the design, sample size and sponsor have not been disclosed.

A randomized controlled trial of motor-imagery brain-computer interface (BCI) training for swallowing difficulty after stroke was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) on April 9, 2026, under the number ChiCTR2600122162. It will test whether the training improves swallowing function in stroke patients, and has not yet begun recruiting.

A randomized controlled trial in 120 patients with post-stroke hemiplegia found that pairing brain-computer interface (BCI) rehabilitation training with a gait robot accelerated lower-limb recovery and improved muscle activation patterns more than either intervention on its own. After eight weeks, BCI training, gait-robot training and the combination all improved lower-limb motor function, muscle activity and gait compared with routine training, but the combined group showed the largest increases in integrated electromyography of the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius, along with a greater gain in step frequency and a greater reduction in step width.

A new entry in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry covers a study using brain-computer interface technology for functional recovery after stroke. The record, ChiCTR2600120924, was posted on March 23, 2026, and lists its status as not yet recruiting. The registry listing carries only bibliographic details, so the trial design, sample size and sponsor remain undisclosed.

A Chinese trial will measure the immediate effects of a non-invasive brain-machine interface combined with multimodal training on neurophysiological function in patients with upper-limb hemiparesis after stroke. It was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry as ChiCTR2600120046 on March 9, 2026 and has not begun recruiting.

The Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) has logged a study of a brain-computer interface (BCI)-enabled cognitive rehabilitation system, set to test its clinical effect in patients with mild cognitive impairment. Registered on February 25, 2026 as ChiCTR2600119334, the trial is not yet recruiting.

Neuralink said its clinical trials worldwide now include 21 participants. After making surgical and postoperative changes in response to thread retraction in the first recipient, the company reported higher signal quality in 18 of the next 20 participants. The figures come from a company update rather than a peer-reviewed clinical report.

Tongji Hospital in Wuhan announced a brain-computer interface research institute on 5 September 2025, which it says is the first of its kind run by a hospital in China rather than by a university or a company. The institute covers basic research, clinical application and commercialisation, with the stated aim of building a full-chain BCI system spanning prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of neurological disease.

Neuracle Medical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ran a clinical trial in China evaluating the safety and efficacy of its implantable wireless brain-computer interface, NEO, in patients with tetraplegia caused by spinal cord injury. The trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT06990412 and is listed as completed; its stated primary purpose was to provide the basis for product registration. NEO is designed to let patients control external devices with brain signals.

NeuroXess and Huashan Hospital reported a single-patient test of a 256-channel flexible implantable BCI. In postoperative training, decoding accuracy reached 71% across 142 commonly used Mandarin syllables, with per-character latency below 100 milliseconds. The participant had a language-area tumor and epilepsy, so the company-reported result does not establish performance in people who have lost speech.

Austrian company g.tec medical engineering GmbH has registered a brain-computer interface rehabilitation trial in Parkinson's disease on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT06690931, first posted on November 15, 2024 and marked completed as of the entry's September 3, 2026 update. It evaluates recoveriX PRO, which pairs motor imagination with functional electrical stimulation (FES) and virtual reality feedback, the user wearing an EEG cap whose recorded neural activity drives the feedback devices, and it asks whether the therapy significantly improves motor function, whether it outperforms standard treatment, and whether it is equally safe. The BCI group trains six times a week for four weeks, 24 sessions in all, while the control group gets the same schedule of FES and VR without EEG monitoring; no results are posted in the registry entry.

Synchron reported 12-month results from the U.S. COMMAND early feasibility study in six people with severe chronic bilateral upper-limb paralysis. All participants met the primary safety endpoint of no device-related serious adverse event causing death or permanent increased disability, and motor-intent signals were converted into digital actions throughout the study. The disclosure was not a two-year pivotal-trial report.

Neuralink said thread retraction in its first PRIME participant temporarily reduced BCI performance before the threads stabilized and performance recovered. For the second implant, the team reduced brain motion during surgery and narrowed the gap between the implant and the brain surface. The company reported no thread retraction in the second participant at the time, but it did not publish channel-attrition rates or a formal interim safety report.

The University of Miami has opened a clinical trial testing whether a brain-computer interface can decode upper-limb motor intention from EEG or ECoG and use it both to trigger epidural spinal cord stimulation (ESCS) and to control assistive devices in people with spinal cord injury. The study was first posted on August 1, 2024, and is recruiting.

The University of Miami is recruiting participants with incomplete spinal cord injury for a walking rehabilitation trial combining a brain-computer interface with transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation. The trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT06406855 and is currently recruiting.

Chinese registry ChiCTR2400081380 describes a 96-patient trial of an implantable closed-loop recording and stimulation system for focal drug-resistant epilepsy in people aged 6 to 70. All participants are to receive the implant and then be randomized one month later to active or sham stimulation, 48 per group. The registry provides no evidence that enrollment had passed 50%.

A randomized clinical trial called BCI-REHAB compared an at-home brain-computer interface (BCI) therapy system with a home exercise program for upper-extremity rehabilitation in chronic stroke survivors. The trial, conducted in the United States, was first posted on July 28, 2023, last updated on August 12, 2026, and has a status of completed. The study used Neurolutions' IpsiHand Upper Extremity Rehabilitation System, which reads motor intentions via scalp electrodes and drives an exoskeleton hand device to facilitate repetitive hand movement training. The trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy of BCI-based therapy versus standard exercise therapy and assess the potential for meaningful motor improvement in a home setting. The trial covered conditions including stroke, hemiparesis, spasticity as a sequela of stroke, and chronic stroke survivors with a plegic hand, but results have not yet been published.

The University of Texas at Austin has registered a study on ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05907343, testing whether non-invasive stimulation can strengthen cognitive control in older adults, enrolling both people with cognitive impairment and people without it. It asks whether theta burst stimulation, a form of transcranial magnetic stimulation, can restore a range of cognitive functions, and whether delivering it in closed loop, timed to ongoing brain activity rather than on a fixed schedule, changes the result.

The VA Office of Research and Development is conducting a clinical trial to characterize proprioceptive sensations in the missing limb of upper limb amputees using nerve stimulation and to develop advanced controllers for moving a prosthesis. The trial uses Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES), applying small electric currents to the nerves, and tests different stimulation placements. The trial is registered as NCT04947462 and is currently recruiting.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has developed a method that uses post-operative CT scans and image processing to determine the physical relationship between cochlear implant electrodes and the neural interface, allowing sub-optimally positioned electrodes to be switched off for a customized map. Cochlear implants are surgically implanted devices that restore hearing by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve, and their programming has traditionally ignored where the electrodes actually sit. The trial tested whether this individualized image-guided programming improves hearing and speech outcomes in pediatric recipients, with hearing measures collected at baseline, 12 months and 24 months; it has been completed, but results have not been posted.

Johns Hopkins University is conducting an early feasibility study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Bidirectional Cortical Neuroprosthetic System (BiCNS). The system comprises NeuroPort Microelectrode Array Systems, NeuroPort Electrodes (Sputtered Iridium Oxide Film), Patient Pedestals, the NeuroPort BioPotential Signal Processing System, and the CereStim C96 Programmable Stimulator. The trial enrolls patients with tetraplegia and quadriplegia and is currently recruiting.