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Groundbreaking Trial to Use Spark Biomedical’s Sparrow Link™ Technology
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DALLAS, TX, Feb. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Spark Biomedical, Inc., a leader in wearable neurostimulation, announced today that the Trauma Research and Combat Casualty Care Collaborative has awarded a Clinical Research Award grant of $500,000 for a novel clinical trial evaluating transcutaneous auricular neurostimulation™ (tAN) as a non-invasive treatment for chronic subdural hematomas (cSDH).
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The study—“Transcutaneous Auricular Neurostimulation for Treatment of Non-Surgical Chronic Subdural Hematoma”—will be led by Principal Investigator Dr. Alex Valadka, Professor of Neurological Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center, with co-investigators Dr. Ryan Chiu (UTSW) and Dr. Peter Kan (UTMB). The clinical trial will use Sparrow Link™, Spark Biomedical’s advanced neurostimulation platform designed to target vagal and trigeminal pathways implicated in inflammation and hemostasis.
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A New Direction for Treating One of the Most Common Neurosurgical Conditions
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Chronic subdural hematomas account for over 90,000 hospitalizations annually and are projected to become the most common neurosurgical condition by 2030. Current interventions—including surgery and middle meningeal artery (MMA) embolization—are invasive, carry risk, and are not always effective in preventing recurrence.
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If successful, this first-of-its-kind trial has the potential to:
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- Reduce hematoma growth in non-surgical patients
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- Decrease the need for invasive rescue operations
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- Introduce the first non-invasive therapeutic approach for cSDH
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- Improve patient outcomes while reducing procedural risk
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Expanding tAN Into Neurotrauma Care
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Spark Biomedical’s Sparrow Link system delivers transcutaneous auricular neurostimulation™ (tAN) through wearable ear-based electrodes that stimulate both vagal and trigeminal nerve branches. Prior clinical and preclinical research with tAN has demonstrated modulation of inflammatory biomarkers, platelet activation pathways, and clot physiology—mechanisms highly relevant to the pathogenesis of cSDH.
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Spark Biomedical is proud to highlight its Fellowship Program with UT Southwestern Neurosurgery, which offers emerging clinician-innovators hands-on experience at the intersection of medicine and neurotechnology. As part of this collaboration, Dr. Ryan Chiu, a fifth-year neurosurgery resident at UTSW, has been working closely with Spark to gain real-world training in entrepreneurship, clinical trial design, non-invasive neuromodulation, engineering, grant writing, and patent development.
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