British woman’s anorexia ‘cured’ by brain implant

A BRITISH woman has had electronic probes placed deep in her brain to help cure her of anorexia.

In a ‘highly experimental’ operation, she had a wire inserted to stimulate a part of the brain involved in registering reward, called the nucleus accumbens.

Anorexia is commonly thought of as a psychological issue, in which people starve themselves because they think they are fat.

But experts say the causes can be more fundamental in the most seriously affected patients.

Deep in the middle of the brain, the nucleus accumbens is thought to malfunction in some patients with the eating disorder – meaning they do not enjoy eating.

Professor Tipu Aziz, a neurosurgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, explained that he first inserted a small generator box – a little like a pacemaker – under the woman’s ribs. Then he ran a wire into her brain.

The idea is that the minute charge it carries stimulates the brain into enjoying eating again. Anorexia expert Dr Rebecca Park, who has been heavily involved in the project, said: ‘What we are trying to do is to rewire the brain so that eating becomes a pleasurable experience.’

Both doctors stressed the £25,000 ‘deep brain stimulation’ (DBS) procedure was ‘highly experimental’. Prof Aziz said: ‘This is a treatment that will only be for those who have failed all other treatments for anorexia.

‘Surgery on the brain is something that would only be used as a last resort because of the potential risks that are involved in any operation.’

But Dr Park, an Oxford University psychiatrist, said new treatments had to be developed to help those who failed to respond to conventional therapies.

About 2,500 people are admitted to English hospitals every year because of eating disorders, official figures show – three-quarters due to anorexia. Nine in ten are female and the majority are teens or young adults.

One in 17 stays in hospital for more than six months, costing the NHS huge sums, while around three per cent eventually die of their condition.

Dr Park said: ‘If this treatment could reduce loss of life and bring back some normality for patients it would be a big advance.’

The Oxford team is looking for funding to treat another five patients as part of a small trial.

Their work follows that carried out on six patients at Toronto Western Hospital in Canada.

One of them, Kim Rollins, 38, had DBS implants after suffering from anorexia for 20 years. She said: ‘It has turned my life around. I am now at a healthy weight.’

Prof Aziz emphasised it was ‘early days’ with his British patient, but said she was ‘doing well and there has been a response to the treatment’.