Johns Hopkins tests temporary epidural ultrasound implant MUSIC for spinal cord injury in pigs
The MUSIC device, placed during decompression surgery, imaged the spinal cord and tracked blood flow in cadaver and porcine studies, the authors report.
A team of engineers and surgeons from Johns Hopkins Medicine has reported a first feasibility study of the Multimodal Ultrasound System for Injury Care (MUSIC), a temporary epidural ultrasound neural interface. The work was published on 4 November 2026 in Science Advances 
doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗. The device is placed over the spinal cord during standard decompression surgery and is intended for postoperative imaging and blood-flow monitoring doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗. The study combined simulations, benchtop tests, human cadaveric work and experiments in pigs doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗.
The problem and the device
The days after decompression surgery for acute spinal cord injury are a critical period for monitoring. After the wound is closed, clinicians have no on-demand access to the local morphology and hemodynamics of the cord. Care is therefore guided mostly by systemic surrogates rather than by direct observation of the injured cord doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗.
MUSIC is meant to fill this gap with brightness-mode imaging and Doppler-derived hemodynamic monitoring. It also provides for future device-integrated ultrasound actuation doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗. According to the team, the device is about the size of a small band-aid. It combines diagnostic ultrasound with focused ultrasound, and it is designed to give feedback in the intensive care unit without moving immobile patients. The FDA granted the device a designation in 2023. The principal investigator is Amir Manbachi, associate professor of neurosurgery and biomedical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
What the studies showed
Across the experiments, MUSIC allowed on-demand visualization of cord structure and tracking of hematoma doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗. It also detected localized Doppler flow signatures attributable to the sulcal artery region and followed them over time doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗. In healthy pigs, the researchers demonstrated, as proof of concept, focused ultrasound modulation of blood-flow velocity doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗.
The authors describe the result as a temporary postoperative acoustic interface that provides spinal cord information for monitoring, future management and localized intervention after injury doi.orgScience Advancesdoi.orgOpen source ↗. Manbachi said the long-term goal is to support patients in hospital and reduce the risk of complications such as stroke, blindness or further loss of movement. The release notes that the study was in animals and that the outcomes will continue to be examined in preclinical research.
The team cites an estimated 18,000 spinal cord injuries per year in the United States, with vehicle accidents the most common cause.
