Chinese state television says ultrasound brain stimulation improved conscious behaviour in 13 of 24 patients

By Inside BCI · Edited by Velco Dar · October 31, 2026

After a brain haemorrhage, one patient in a Chinese study lay in a coma for three months. Chinese state television reported this week that the patient woke after 30 days of ultrasound treatment delivered through the skull, and presented the case as one of 13 patients in a group of 24 whose conscious behaviour clearly improved.

What was reported

China Central Television reported on 29 and 30 October on what it called a new generation of non-invasive ultrasound brain-computer interface, shown at the first Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Brain-Computer Interface Industry Innovation Conference, which opened in Shenzhen on 21 October. The device was developed by the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT), part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other research teams. In a preliminary clinical study with Kunming Medical University, 13 of 24 patients with chronic disorders of consciousness, conditions such as the vegetative and minimally conscious states that can follow severe brain injury, showed clear improvement in conscious behaviour. CCTV said treatment runs three times a week, 20 minutes a session, for four weeks.

The device sends focused ultrasound, guided by MRI scans, into the brain to stimulate it. CCTV’s report says disorders of consciousness involve damage to the communication link between the thalamus, a relay station deep in the brain, and the cortex, and that stimulation aims to restore it. Work on epilepsy and depression is at the research stage.

What is known about the study

InsideBCI found no published paper on the 24-patient study and no registration for it on ClinicalTrials.gov. The reports do not say whether the study had a comparison group, how improvement was measured, how long it lasted or which hospital treated the patients. Researchers from Kunming Medical University, SIAT and other institutions published a related case report in Frontiers in Psychiatry in February 2026, describing one patient in a minimally conscious state who emerged from it after the same schedule of ultrasound stimulation aimed at the right central thalamus.

SIAT describes itself as having built the world’s first ultrasound brain-modulation instrument. In September 2018 Green Valley Pharmaceutical signed an agreement with the institute to commercialise its ultrasound deep brain stimulation work through a planned joint venture. No link between that venture and the device in this study has been disclosed. No regulatory filing or approval for the device in this study has been disclosed.

Why it matters

Chinese media presented the device as a brain-computer interface, a label that now carries policy and funding weight in China. The reports describe only stimulation: ultrasound sent into the brain to change its activity. China’s own regulator sets a narrower test. The National Medical Products Administration’s classification guidance, published on 30 June 2026, defines a brain-computer interface medical device as one that measures signals from the central nervous system, decodes them in real time and achieves real-time two-way interaction or closed-loop feedback. It says it does not apply to devices with only one-way signal acquisition or one-way stimulation. For investors and partners assessing China’s non-invasive brain-technology companies, that test separates one-way stimulation from systems that read and decode brain signals in real time. SIAT has separately published a closed-loop ultrasound system that decodes brain signals to trigger stimulation, tested in rats in 2024; the reports do not say whether the device in this study reads any signals.

Ultrasound stimulation of the thalamus for disorders of consciousness is also being tested in the US. A UCLA team led by Martin Monti published a first-in-human report in 2016, and a UCLA-led, sham-controlled trial listing four US sites aims to enrol 60 patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness after severe brain injury.

Not disclosed

The researchers have not disclosed the study’s design, how consciousness was measured, how long the improvements lasted, any side effects, who led the work or whether a company will commercialise the device.

What to watch

Whether the 24-patient results are published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Whether SIAT or a partner registers a controlled trial.

Whether a company files the device with China’s National Medical Products Administration.

Whether UCLA’s randomised trial reports results.

Sources

Primary:

Coverage:

Cross-reference to prior InsideBCI coverage:

28 October 2026: Chinese ultrasound maker eSonic signs a cooperation deal with researchers from Mickael Tanter’s Paris lab

news China SIAT Chinese-Academy-of-Sciences Kunming-Medical-University ultrasound neuromodulation disorders-of-consciousness non-invasive-BCI Shenzhen UCLA