Electrical stimulation restores some speech in brain-damaged man
A team of researchers from New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, the JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison, N.J., and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation reported that a severely brain-damaged man had shown some improvement in movement and speech after his brain was stimulated with pulses of electric current.
The researchers received permission from the family to perform the experiment, before which he was only able to respond to questions and commands occasionally by moving his thumb or nodding, but was otherwise unable to move or speak. This patient was chosen for the experiment because he was partly conscious after a head injury, his condition had been stable for years, and imagining tests showed that the thinking, purposeful regions of the brain were intact.
The scientists stimulated the man's brain through deep brain stimulation, an operation that involves threading two wires through the man's skull into the thalamus, where functions such as arousal, attention, emotion and others are controlled. The two wires are then attached to a pacemaker-like device placed under the man's collarbone, and current is passed through the wires.
Afterward, the man began to grow more attentive, speak a few words, and was able to identify pictures during testing. The team tracked the patient's abilities over four weeks while the current was active, and for four weeks while it was off, without being informed of whether the device was active. According to lead researcher Dr. Nicholas D. Schiff, the scientists observed a "consistent trend of improved verbal and behavioral responsiveness during the on condition."
The surgery itself is not new. It has been used on many brain damaged patients, including Terri Schiavo, the brain damaged Florida woman who died after her feeding tube was removed, the debate over which made national headlines. In most of the prior cases, the treatment was administered too early following the injury and made no difference at all, including with Terri Schiavo, the scientists said. They added that this new case, however, provides the first convincing evidence that the surgery can be beneficial.
The case stands to revive interest in the use of electrical stimulation on patients in states of partial consciousness in the United States, experts said, but added that there was no way to tell how many people would be helped, and many ethics questions were raised about performing the surgery on patients unable to give or refuse consent.
I found this article particularly interesting because although, I am not an electrical engineering major (and know nothing about it), I see this research as a fusion between electrical and biomedical engineering--maybe a possible new major. To me, this case truly is a breakthrough for science. The brain is such an intriguing part of the body, not fully understood yet. I think this experiment takes research a step closer to figuring out the big puzzle that is the brain.
SOURCE:
http://www.naturalnews.com/020777_electrical_stimulation_brain_injuries_brain_damage.html
The researchers received permission from the family to perform the experiment, before which he was only able to respond to questions and commands occasionally by moving his thumb or nodding, but was otherwise unable to move or speak. This patient was chosen for the experiment because he was partly conscious after a head injury, his condition had been stable for years, and imagining tests showed that the thinking, purposeful regions of the brain were intact.
The scientists stimulated the man's brain through deep brain stimulation, an operation that involves threading two wires through the man's skull into the thalamus, where functions such as arousal, attention, emotion and others are controlled. The two wires are then attached to a pacemaker-like device placed under the man's collarbone, and current is passed through the wires.
Afterward, the man began to grow more attentive, speak a few words, and was able to identify pictures during testing. The team tracked the patient's abilities over four weeks while the current was active, and for four weeks while it was off, without being informed of whether the device was active. According to lead researcher Dr. Nicholas D. Schiff, the scientists observed a "consistent trend of improved verbal and behavioral responsiveness during the on condition."
The surgery itself is not new. It has been used on many brain damaged patients, including Terri Schiavo, the brain damaged Florida woman who died after her feeding tube was removed, the debate over which made national headlines. In most of the prior cases, the treatment was administered too early following the injury and made no difference at all, including with Terri Schiavo, the scientists said. They added that this new case, however, provides the first convincing evidence that the surgery can be beneficial.
The case stands to revive interest in the use of electrical stimulation on patients in states of partial consciousness in the United States, experts said, but added that there was no way to tell how many people would be helped, and many ethics questions were raised about performing the surgery on patients unable to give or refuse consent.
I found this article particularly interesting because although, I am not an electrical engineering major (and know nothing about it), I see this research as a fusion between electrical and biomedical engineering--maybe a possible new major. To me, this case truly is a breakthrough for science. The brain is such an intriguing part of the body, not fully understood yet. I think this experiment takes research a step closer to figuring out the big puzzle that is the brain.
SOURCE:
http://www.naturalnews.com/020777_electrical_stimulation_brain_injuries_brain_damage.html
posted by Giuli at 5:18 PM
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