The Potential of 'Brain Pacemakers'

The Washington Post ^ | March 6, 2004 | Rob Stein

[neverdem]

Implanted Devices May Alter Treatment of Many Disorders

A handful of scientists around the world have begun cautiously experimenting with devices implanted in patients' bodies to deliver precisely targeted electrical stimulation to the brain in hopes of treating otherwise hopeless behavioral, neurological and psychiatric disorders.

While stressing that the ethically sensitive research with "brain pacemakers" has just begun, the scientists say the results so far have been so promising that it could mark the beginning of a new era in treating often intractable cases. The approach builds on rapid recent advances in understanding how the brain works, on high-tech imaging technologies that allow surgeons to pinpoint targets with unprecedented precision, and on the miniaturization of computerized electronic devices that can safely be inserted under the skin.

"I believe we have opened up a totally new field of research," said Alim-Louis Benabid, a neurosurgeon who pioneered the field at the University of Grenoble in France. "The number of labs which are entering the field is increasing extremely quickly. We will probably see in the next five to 10 years a number of exciting new applications."

Brain pacemakers are already widely used to treat Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders, and now several neurological centers have begun trying them to relieve several forms of previously untreatable pain, including rare but excruciating "cluster headaches."

[neverdem]

PING

[LibWhacker]

Hope for liberals at last.

[Crazieman]

I have to register to read Washpost articles now? Why bother.

If such a thing actually worked and worked well, I could use it to treat my frequent migraine headaches and depression.

[cyborg]

I wonder how this would apply to seizure patients, esp. children.

If nothing else, DU members should volunteer to be practice models.

[neverdem]

If such a thing actually worked and worked well, I could use it to treat my frequent migraine headaches and depression.

If you notice the last paragraph said they were trying them on the type of migraine called "cluster headache".

[lelio]

Because brain surgery is painless, the operation is done while the patient is conscious so his responses can help guide the surgeons.

One of the cable channels (Discovery? Health?) has had a couple of brain surgeries and the doctors are always asking the patients questions, making sure that they aren't loosing speech or comprehenion skills. Pretty freaky.

[neverdem]

I thought I heard about deep brain stimulation being used for seizures, and I was surprised the article said nothing. Here's one of the most recent abstracts I found:

Lancet Neurol. 2004 Feb;3(2):111-8. Related Articles, Links

Brain stimulation for epilepsy.

Theodore WH, Fisher RS.

Clinical Epilepsy Section, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. theodorw@ninds.nih.gov

Neural stimulation is a promising new technology for the treatment of medically-intractable seizures. Vagus-nerve stimulation (VNS) is licensed in several countries as an adjunctive therapy. VNS is as effective as antiepileptic drug therapy, and serious complications are rare. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is simple, non-invasive, and widely used in neurophysiology. Therapeutic results in a few studies are equivocal at best. Deep brain stimulation, although experimental, has been applied to the cerebellum, caudate nucleus, centromedian thalamus, anterior thalamus, subthalamus, hippocampus, and neocortical seizure foci. Preliminary results are encouraging, but not conclusive. Electrode implantation in the brain for indications other than seizures has been associated with a 5% risk for intracranial haemorrhage and 5% for infection. A controlled study of anterior thalamic stimulation in patients with intractable partial and secondarily generalised seizures has been started. Future investigations are likely to study extrathalamic sites of stimulation, and effects of stimulation contingent upon detection of or prediction of EEG patterns of epileptiform activity.

PMID: 14747003 [PubMed - in process]

[babygene]

My wife and I are thinking of having it done for her Parkinson's.

Medtronics is apparently on of the firms making the equipment. They make tons of stuff, including cardiac pacemakers. They just got FDA approval for a new device that does bilateral DBS. The new device has a remote that lets the patient adjust the levels of stimulation. It's not for everyone however, the benefit has to out weight the risk.

[Revelation 911]

my best friend just had this done - he's about 65

He just had the final surgery on Monday - thay havent switched it on yet - but were hopeful

[KantianBurke]

[Theophilus]

I rather have a bottle in front of me...

[Cvengr]

and on the miniaturization of computerized electronic devices that can safely be inserted under the skin....

..."I think we're really in the beginning of a new era for the treatment of neurological and psychological disorders that are intractable to medication and other treatments," Rezai said.

Eventually, Rezai said, "smart brain pacemakers" will be able to sense aberrant brain cell firings and correct the problem with "a burst of therapeutic activity."

"With time, it will become a more routine part of the armamentarium of therapies for patients," he said. "In the future, neural prostheses and smart systems for the brain will be applied more and more."

The mark of the beast is associated with identification in transactions of commerce. The Antichrist is revealed as he commits the blasphemy of blasphemies in the Temple.

One theologic doctrine asserts the human body of the believer is today the temple of God. Many associate the end times Prophecies to indicate Israel will rebuild their Temple and reconvene temple sacrifices.

Is there anybody who might provide a sound argument why the temple being desecrated might not be the mind of man by counterfeit devices now being designed and promoted to influence neural behavior as well as economic transactions?

[neverdem]

I don't engage in theological arguments. I will ask you if you would forsake other benefits of modern medicine, which we benefit from the brains our Creator endowed us, such as pig valves to replace faulty heart valves and artificial joints?

[neverdem]

I forgot to add what about heart pacemakers?

[neverdem]

God speed and good luck whatever you choose.

[neverdem]

God speed and good luck to your friend.

[realpatriot71]

Is there anybody who might provide a sound argument why the temple being desecrated might not be the mind of man by counterfeit devices now being designed and promoted to influence neural behavior as well as economic transactions?

It's possible - imagine the control any government woud have with "implanted" babies at birth - control

It is written:
"(19)What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
(20)For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" - 1Cor. 6:19,20

[realpatriot71]

I will ask you if you would forsake other benefits of modern medicine, which we benefit from the brains our Creator endowed us, such as pig valves to replace faulty heart valves and artificial joints?

None of these can affect thinking and cognition directly. I can place in implant at a specific part of your brain (amygdala) and turn you into a killer - they've done this with monkeys. The U of Texas "clock-town shooter" had a tumor growing in his amygdala, and history will tell us what heppened there.

[neverdem]

The U of Texas "clock-town shooter" had a tumor growing in his amygdala, and history will tell us what heppened there.

Too bad he didn't have an MRI, which wasn't available at the time, and a good neurosurgeon. This deep brain stimulation is being tried as a last resort.