Review

. 2025 Mar 24;12(1):14.

doi: 10.1186/s40779-025-00598-z.

Recent applications of EEG-based brain-computer-interface in the medical field

Xiu-Yun Liu^#^{1

2

3}, Wen-Long Wang^#¹, Miao Liu^#¹, Ming-Yi Chen^#⁴, Tânia Pereira⁵, Desta Yakob Doda¹, Yu-Feng Ke¹, Shou-Yan Wang⁶, Dong Wen⁷, Xiao-Guang Tong⁸, Wei-Guang Li^{9

10}, Yi Yang^{11

12

13}, Xiao-Di Han¹¹, Yu-Lin Sun¹, Xin Song¹, Cong-Ying Hao¹, Zi-Hua Zhang¹, Xin-Yang Liu¹, Chun-Yang Li¹, Rui Peng¹, Xiao-Xin Song¹, Abi Yasi¹, Mei-Jun Pang¹, Kuo Zhang¹, Run-Nan He¹, Le Wu¹⁴, Shu-Geng Chen¹⁵, Wen-Jin Chen¹⁶, Yan-Gong Chao¹⁷, Cheng-Gong Hu¹⁸, Heng Zhang¹⁹, Min Zhou²⁰, Kun Wang¹, Peng-Fei Liu¹, Chen Chen²¹, Xin-Yi Geng²², Yun Qin²², Dong-Rui Gao²², En-Ming Song²³, Long-Long Cheng²⁴, Xun Chen²⁵, Dong Ming^{26

27}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Medical School, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
² Haihe Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interaction and Human-Machine Integration, Tianjin, 300380, China.
³ School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
⁴ Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁵ Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, 4099-002, Porto, Portugal.
⁶ Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
⁷ School of Intelligence Science and Technology, University of Sciences and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
⁸ Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, 3003500, China.
⁹ The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, China.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory for Quality Ensurance and Sustainable Use of Dao-Di Herbs, Artemisinin Research Center, and Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, China.
¹¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100070, China.
¹² China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, 100070, China.
¹³ Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3TH, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Electric Engineering and Information Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
¹⁵ Department of Rehabilitation, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200040, China.
¹⁶ Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
¹⁷ The First Hospital of Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100016, China.
¹⁸ Department of Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China.
¹⁹ Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Beijing, 110122, China.
²⁰ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230031, China.
²¹ School of Computer Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
²² School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.
²³ Shanghai Frontiers Science Research Base of Intelligent Optoelectronics and Perception, Institute of Optoelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
²⁴ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Medical School, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China. chenglonglong@cecdat.com.
²⁵ Department of Electric Engineering and Information Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China. xunchen@ustc.edu.cn.
²⁶ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Medical School, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China. richardming@tju.edu.cn.
²⁷ Haihe Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interaction and Human-Machine Integration, Tianjin, 300380, China. richardming@tju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40128831
PMCID: PMC11931852
DOI: 10.1186/s40779-025-00598-z

Review

Recent applications of EEG-based brain-computer-interface in the medical field

Xiu-Yun Liu et al. Mil Med Res. 2025.

. 2025 Mar 24;12(1):14.

doi: 10.1186/s40779-025-00598-z.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Medical School, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
² Haihe Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interaction and Human-Machine Integration, Tianjin, 300380, China.
³ School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
⁴ Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁵ Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, 4099-002, Porto, Portugal.
⁶ Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
⁷ School of Intelligence Science and Technology, University of Sciences and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
⁸ Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, 3003500, China.
⁹ The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, China.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory for Quality Ensurance and Sustainable Use of Dao-Di Herbs, Artemisinin Research Center, and Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, China.
¹¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100070, China.
¹² China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, 100070, China.
¹³ Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3TH, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Electric Engineering and Information Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
¹⁵ Department of Rehabilitation, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200040, China.
¹⁶ Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
¹⁷ The First Hospital of Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100016, China.
¹⁸ Department of Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China.
¹⁹ Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Beijing, 110122, China.
²⁰ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230031, China.
²¹ School of Computer Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
²² School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.
²³ Shanghai Frontiers Science Research Base of Intelligent Optoelectronics and Perception, Institute of Optoelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
²⁴ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Medical School, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China. chenglonglong@cecdat.com.
²⁵ Department of Electric Engineering and Information Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China. xunchen@ustc.edu.cn.
²⁶ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Medical School, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China. richardming@tju.edu.cn.
²⁷ Haihe Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interaction and Human-Machine Integration, Tianjin, 300380, China. richardming@tju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40128831
PMCID: PMC11931852
DOI: 10.1186/s40779-025-00598-z

Abstract

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) represent an emerging technology that facilitates direct communication between the brain and external devices. In recent years, numerous review articles have explored various aspects of BCIs, including their fundamental principles, technical advancements, and applications in specific domains. However, these reviews often focus on signal processing, hardware development, or limited applications such as motor rehabilitation or communication. This paper aims to offer a comprehensive review of recent electroencephalogram (EEG)-based BCI applications in the medical field across 8 critical areas, encompassing rehabilitation, daily communication, epilepsy, cerebral resuscitation, sleep, neurodegenerative diseases, anesthesiology, and emotion recognition. Moreover, the current challenges and future trends of BCIs were also discussed, including personal privacy and ethical concerns, network security vulnerabilities, safety issues, and biocompatibility.

Keywords: Brain monitoring; Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs); Communication; Diagnosis; Medical applications; Rehabilitation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Applications of BCIs in healthcare. a The whole BCI process and the types of brain signals. b The process of BCI applications in rehabilitation, part of the figure by Ma et al. [92]. c The classification of BCIs based on the daily communication, part of the figure by Willet et al. [93]. d The role of inhibitory neurons in epilepsy, recorded EEG signals in seizure states, epilepsy prediction, and physiological markers of epilepsy, part of the figure by Daoud et al. [94] and Guo et al. [95]. e The sleep stages and the typical waveforms during sleep. f Four types of electrical stimulation of the brain for brain resuscitation and neurodegenerative diseases. g Other applications of BCIs in the medical field. ECoG electrocorticography, LFP local field potential, MUA multi-unit activity, SUA single-unit activity, EEG electroencephalogram, MRI magnetic resonance imaging, NIRS near-infrared spectroscopy, MEG magnetoencephalography, PET positron emission computed tomography, DBS deep brain stimulation, VNS vagus nerve stimulator, rTMS rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation, tDCS transcranial direct current stimulation, BCI brain-computer interfaces, REM rapid eye movement

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Recent applications of EEG-based brain-computer-interface in the medical field

Affiliations

Recent applications of EEG-based brain-computer-interface in the medical field

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

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MeSH terms

Grants and funding

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