Electric device helps brain injuries
Adevice used to treat brain injuries worked so well that, following a trial, some people refused to have theirs turned off.
The results of the trial, which started in 2018, have just been published. It involved five people aged between 22 and 60. All had thinking problems after suffering severe brain injuries between three and 18 years earlier. The injuries meant they found it difficult to do some things.
For the trial, doctors put a tiny device into each patient’s brain during an operation. The device uses “deep brain stimulation” (DBS), which rebuilds connections between neurons. Neurons are tiny cells and there are billions of them in the brain. Whenever you do anything, chemical and electrical signals move between neurons. The tiny device applied electricity to parts of the brain where these signals had been interrupted. The trial was the first to focus DBS on a part of the brain that deals with consciousness (being aware of your surroundings and being able to respond to them).
After the devices were put in their brains, the patients in the study had it turned on for 90 days, 12 hours a day. It had an incredible impact on their lives. Suddenly they could do things that had been impossible before because of their brain injuries, such as reading books and playing video games. They also said they felt less tired and they could get through the day without needing naps. After the 90 days, researchers wanted to turn off some of the patients’ devices. The team needed to compare their brain performance with the patients whose devices were still on. Two people were so delighted with the difference the device made that they refused. Eventually, one person agreed to have theirs switched off – and their brain performance got noticeably worse.
Gina Arata, who took part in the trial, said, “I can remember how much money is in my bank account. I wasn’t able to read, but after the implant I bought a book, Where the Crawdads Sing, and loved it and remembered it.” Dr Nicholas Schiff, one of the authors of the study, called it a “pioneering moment”.
Scientists hope the implant will change the lives of more people with serious long-term brain injuries.