The implant is only two by three millimetres, and weighs 0.3 of a gram. Photo: RNZ/123rf
A patient in a clinical brain implant trial says the world-first technology has reduced her anxiety around her symptoms.
Clinical trials are underway for a neural implant to monitor brain pressure in those living with hydrocephalus.
The condition causes fluid to build up in the brain which, if untreated, can be fatal.
Patients can be born with hydrocephalus or develop it later in life.
It is typically treated with a small tube, called a shunt, implanted under the skin which drains fluid from the brain into the stomach.
However, shunts had a 50 percent chance of failure in the first two years.
To tackle this, researchers at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and Kitea Health developed an implant to measure pressure in the brain using an external, wireless wand.
The implant is only two by three millimetres, and weighs 0.3 of a gram.
Clinical trials in adults are about 50 percent complete, and trials on children have begun.
It is a world first, the smallest brain implant ever developed, as well as the first implantable medical device developed in New Zealand.
Student nurse and triallist Jessica Grainger was diagnosed with hydrocephalus in 2023, after three years of migraines.
Her first shunt failed in October 2024, after which she signed up for the clinical trial.
"The original diagnosis, I just wanted to cry in [the doctor's] office when he told me, because they'd finally figured out what was wrong and it just meant that there was something we could do to try to see if it would help, and I've not had one migraine since that first surgery," Grainger said.
Having the implant had been seamless.
"Having the wand there is just really, really cool, to be able to do from home and do by myself."
Grainger said having the implant relieved much of her anxiety when it came to feeling unwell.
"It's eased a lot of anxiety around feeling like 'oh my gosh is my shunt failing,' and then I check my readings and it's normal.
"It's kind of promoting my self-management, with the diagnosis, and being able to know when I need to go and see someone."
The implant was a huge milestone, co-founder and chief executive of Kitea Health Simon Malpas told RNZ.
"It's New Zealand's first implantable medical device of any sort," he said.
"The second thing is that it's the smallest brain implant ever developed.
"Importantly, it's the first time, world first, that someone can measure their own brain pressure at home."
Malpas said patients now had confidence in their symptoms, avoiding potentially unnecessary trips to the hospital.
"Two thirds of the time it turns out to be a false alarm, they do not do surgery," he said.
"Ideally we'd fix that problem, but people have been trying for 40 years without success to improve that, and so we've looked at this and said 'well, we can't fix the shunt but we can give confidence and data'."
Malpas hoped the use of the implant would reduce the strain on the health system.
"We know that children in hospital and people in hospital, it's expensive, you're on the ward, that's expensive, an MRI or a CT scan is expensive.
"All of those things cost, cost quite a lot.
"We can, we believe, save considerable cost to the healthcare system through reducing these false alarms."
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