{"id":568081,"date":"2026-08-13T19:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568081\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T19:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:10:20","slug":"what-minimally-invasive-means-for-patient-input-on-brain-implants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568081\/","title":{"rendered":"What \u2018minimally invasive\u2019 means for patient input on brain implants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scroll through the flashy websites of neurotechnology startups and a phrase repeats again and again: \u201cminimally invasive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe term is fuzzy, problematic,\u201d said Anna Wexler, a medical ethics and health policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. \u201cIs it physical invasiveness? We\u2019re not sure, it\u2019s a fraught term.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fuzziness hasn\u2019t stopped most brain-computer interface startups from deploying it in a bid to differentiate their devices from others in development. <a href=\"https:\/\/synchronbci.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Synchron<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20230913723932\/en\/Motif-Neurotech-Conducts-First-in-human-Brain-Stimulation-With-Millimeter-sized-Implantable-Device-for-Treatment-resistant-Depression\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Motif Neurotech<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/41039113\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Precision Neuroscience<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/merge.io\/blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Merge Labs<\/a> all use it liberally. Journalists sometimes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2024\/05\/29\/brain-activity-mapping-ultrasound-transparent-window-skull\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">repeat the spin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-text\">STAT+ Exclusive Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-login\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"restricted-content-breaker-bg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/stat-plus-breaker-bg.png\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"stat-plus-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/stat-plus-logo-white.svg\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThis article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tUnlock this article \u2014 and get additional analysis of the technologies disrupting health care \u2014 by subscribing to STAT+.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-breaker-wrapper-cta mobile\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta mobile\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tIndividual plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tGroup plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button view-all\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker view all plans\" aria-label=\"View All Plans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View All Plans<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTo read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button restricted-button\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker subscribe cta 1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scroll through the flashy websites of neurotechnology startups and a phrase repeats again and again: \u201cminimally invasive.\u201d \u201cThe&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,554,111,139,69,6293,1518,1676],"class_list":["post-568081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-mental-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-patients","tag-research","tag-stat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}