What risks of a brain implant does a trial participant need to understand before agreeing? · Grey Matter

The risks of the surgery itself, such as bleeding, infection and seizures, are the best known; less familiar are the risks of the device over years, among them tissue heating kept within design limits, the slow loss of signal as tissue reacts, hardware failure and the need for further operations.

What risks of a brain implant does a trial participant need to understand before agreeing?

The risks of the surgery itself, such as bleeding, infection and seizures, are the best known; less familiar are the risks of the device over years, among them tissue heating kept within design limits, the slow loss of signal as tissue reacts, hardware failure and the need for further operations. Reviews of neural device research add the risks that come after the study: whether the device will be maintained, removed or left unsupported, and what will happen to the recordings. Because early trials enrol people with severe paralysis who may be eager for any benefit, consent also has to make clear that a feasibility study tests safety and may bring them little.