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In Brief
- Brain cells, called neurons, communicate with one another through electrical impulses.
- In deep-brain stimulation, a battery implanted in a person’s chest delivers steady pulses of electricity to a targeted area of the brain. The artificial current interrupts or corrects dysfunctional electrical activity that is causing medical problems. Doctors can tailor the speed, strength and length of the pulses to get the desired result.
- Well established as a way of quelling the tremors that can afflict people with Parkinson’s disease, deep-brain stimulation is showing promise for a host of other ailments, including chronic pain and depression.
The video is brief, just a couple of minutes, but it’s reality TV as riveting as anything you’ll ever see. A man in his mid-50s, affable, articulate, faces the camera and talks a bit about a medical procedure he’s had. He holds in his hand what looks like a remote control. “I’ll turn myself off now,” he says mildly. The man presses a button on the controller, a beep sounds, and his right arm starts to shake, then to flap violently. It’s as if a biological hurricane has engulfed him, or perhaps it’s that his arm is made of straw and some evil sprite is waving it about. With effort, the man grasps the malfunctioning right arm with his left hand and slowly, firmly, subdues the commotion, as if he were calming a child in the throes of a temper tantrum. He’s breathing hard, and it’s clear he can’t keep it up much longer. With an almost desperate gesture, he reaches out for the controller and manages to press the button again. There’s a soft beep, and suddenly it’s over. He’s fine.
Composed, violently afflicted, then composed again. All with the flick of a switch. As before-and-after moments go, this one is potent, verging on the miraculous. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect to witness under a revival tent, not in the neurology ward of a British hospital. Once you’ve seen it, you’ll have an indelible image of Parkinson’s disease. The word “tremor” doesn’t convey what can happen to people—the way they are thrashed and harassed by their own bodies. But this scene, involving a patient of ours, informs viewers about more than a disease; it’s a vivid window onto a powerful medical technology known as deep-brain stimulation (you can watch the video at www.kringelbach.dk/nrn).
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4 Comments
Add CommentIt's exciting to know that this is finally becoming more widely known. I'm well on my way for motor cortex stimulation, essentially the same, except the electrode is placed on the outer cortex and I'll most likely have to stimulate several times a day for 15-30 minutes, but I'm hoping that it has the same effect that it has upon another women I've talked to who had it: a reduction in my anesthesia dolorosa, contracted from radiofrequency rhizotomy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have suffered with a deteriorating essential tremor all my adult life. It is accurately defined as a movement disorder, and manifests itself in my hands and arms, making writing, drinking and eating vitually impossible. As an engineer, I recognise the symptoms as a feedback oscillation, but unlike the neurosurgeons, who focus on the brain, I wonder if the malfunction could possibly be prompted by flawed data transmission from the effected limb to the brain. DBS has a good track record, but has anybody considered applying similar stimulation to the sensory nerve paths at say a less critical location before entry to the spinal column?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen I was first referred for motor cortex stimulation I was told that Medtronic was working on a device that was less prone to slippage, which is what they encountered when the original device used for motor cortex stimulation was placed on the affected trigemenal nerve (located on the frontal skull). Even though they had positive results from the device being placed on the nerve itself, the issue of slippage was great enough to stop those studies while Medtronic worked on a new device that was less prone to slippage since the affected area (face) experienced a lot of movement. Unfortunately I was told it would be another couple of years and I didn't want to wait that long, having the option of MCS available to me, and being selected as a candidate for it. Have you inquired into the possibility that studies exist that address what you're looking for?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisbrain pacemakers wow what a major scientific advancement does anyone else think that a brain pacemaker is pretty amazing if so email me at hottyboy444@hotmail.com
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