Meir,
I heard this, and heard the same thing had been tried with Terri
Schiavo, and it didn't work. Have heard of deep brain stim being used
in people with brain injuries and CP for spasticity and dystonia.
http://jnnp.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/72/2/249
http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowPDF&ProduktNr=224132&Ausgabe=228997&ArtikelNr=68963&filename=68963.pdf
http://tinyurl.com/2xmes4
On 8/2/07, Meir Weiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Article rank CLEVELAND CLINIC
>
> Three-dimensional computer rendering depicts deep-brain stimulation electrodes
> that U.S. researchers say helped a 38-year-old man, who had been unable to
> communicate or feed himself for six years, emerge from a coma-like state.
>
> Implants awaken brain-injured man
>
> NEURO 'PACEMAKER' Emerges from 6 years in coma- like state after new treatment
>
> MARGARET MUNRO CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
> A 38-year-old U.S. man unable to communicate or feed himself for six years has
> been reawakened from a coma-like state by tiny electrodes implanted deep in his
> brain.
>
>
> The man, incapacitated after an assault left him in a "minimally conscious
> state," is interacting with family and friends, and gradually regaining more
> control of his mind and body.
>
>
> The family has requested anonymity, but the man's mother gave a tearful account
> in a teleconference yesterday of how her son was declared a "vegetable" and
> languished in a care facility after his skull was crushed and he was "left for
> dead" following a robbery.
>
>
> She thanked doctors for bringing back the eldest of her three sons, who had
> loved music, drawing and comic books.
>
>
> With the electrodes delivering weak electrical pulses to his brain for 12 hours
> a day, she said he is once again connecting with the world. He can watch movies,
> drink from a cup, cry, laugh, express pain and say: "I love you, mommy."
>
>
> "I still cry every time I see him, but now it's tears of joy," she said.
>
>
> The researchers, who describe the case in the journal Nature, say deep-brain
> stimulation is opening the door to treatment of severe brain damage and might
> eventually help thousands of families.
>
>
> Dr. Ali Rezai, director of the Centre for Neurological Restoration at the
> Cleveland Clinic, led the surgical team that implanted two electrodes in the
> man's brain in 2005, wiring them to pacemaker batteries in his chest in a bid to
> switch on undamaged regions of his brain. Rezai likens the result to a pacemaker
> for the brain. The doctors charting the man's progress say the changes have been
> "remarkable and sustained."
>
>
> "He regularly uses words and gestures and responds to questions quickly," said
> Dr. Joseph Giacino, co-leader of the study and associate director of the
>
>
> Wired wonder: New Jersey Neuroscience Institute. The man, who lives in an East
> Coast rehabilitation centre, no longer requires a feeding tube and can drink
> from a cup and brush his hair. He routinely speaks in snatches of two and three
> words and has been able to recite the first 16 words of the U.S. Pledge of
> Allegiance.
>
>
> While the man is good at engaging in the moment, the doctors say he has trouble
> retaining new information and remembering what has happened from day to day.
> Years of severe immobility also greatly limit his movements, and he is unable to
> stand or walk, although the researchers are not ruling out the possibility that
> he will be able to do so.
>
>
> "His body now has to catch up with his brain," said Dr. Joseph Fins, chief of
> medical ethics at New York's Weill Cornell Medical College, who is helping guide
> the project.
>
>
> The U.S. team plans to try the procedure on 11 more patients as part of a
> government-approved trial. If successful, it could lead to re-evaluation of
> countless people in the minimally conscious state. There is little reliable data
> on how many people are in such a state, but the researchers said one study has
> estimated there could be as many as 280,000 North Americans.
>
>
> "It will force us to take a second look at each case and - for appropriate
> patients - move away from the therapeutic nihilism that has so plagued this
> population, most of whom are ignored, receiving what is euphemistically
> described as 'custodial care,' " Fins said.
>
>
> Observers caution that the procedure has so far only been shown to work in one
> carefully selected patient and much more research is needed.
>
>
> "It is impressive, but it is just the first step," said Dr. Elena Moro, the
> neurologist in charge of deep-brain stimulation at Toronto Western Hospital.
>
>
> The Toronto team, the largest group of its kind in Canada, implants deep-brain
> stimulation electrodes in about 60 patients a year to treat movement disorders,
> pain, epilepsy and, as part of a clinical trial, severe depression.
>
>
> The probes target different regions of the brain depending on the disorder. Moro
> said it is not clear how the electrical impulses work to reduce pain, restore
> the ability to walk or, as appears to be the case with the U.S. man, to
> reconnect individuals with the conscious world.
>
>
> The U.S. researchers speculate that the electrical impulses are amplifying their
> MCS patient's brain activity and are "bumping up" its efficiency.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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--
Kendall
An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950
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