Ben Preiss
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For the first time, deep-brain stimulation, using a brain pacemaker, was used on a patient in a minimally conscious state. The pacemaker, which uses two electrodes to send impulses into a part of the brain regulating consciousness, was implanted in the 38-year-old man enabling him to chew his food, watch a movie and talk with family for the first time in six years (when he was hit on the head in a robbery).  For six years, the patient lay silent -- unable to move, eat or speak after suffering a traumatic brain injury from a blow he received to his head during a robbery. When conventional attempts to rouse him from his minimally conscious state proved unsuccessful, doctors tried a novel and experimental approach. They inserted long, thin electrodes deep into the patient's brain. Almost immediately after the first day of treatment, the 36-year-old man became more alert, shifting his eyes around the room to follow the movements of doctors and his loved ones.
Gradually, over the six-month course of the treatment known as deep brain stimulation, other improvements followed.
(abcnews.go)References: news.yahoo, abcnews.go Filed In: |
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