Posted on 08/01/2007 12:31:24 PM PDT by red state girl
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A man with severe brain injuries who spent six years in a near-vegetative state can now chew his food, watch a movie and talk with family thanks to a brain pacemaker that may change the way such patients are treated, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
The 38-year-old man is the first person in a minimally conscious state to be treated with deep-brain stimulation, a treatment that uses a pacemaker and two electrodes to send impulses into a part of the brain regulating consciousness.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Oh, wow! God works in mysterious ways.
This is only partially elevant here, but reminds me of the old saw about the guy’s grandmother who’s brain was dead, but her heart was still beating. She was the first Democrat they’d ever had in the family.
Too late for terri...
Judging from the results, we are very encouraged about the potential of this technology to improve the function of these brain-injured patients,” he said.
***Ya think?
Imagine that! Maybe they should have just let him starve and dehydrate to death. (sigh)
Thank the Lord he didn’t have an abusive cheating spouse to refuse the treatment for him.
T’gal, you are so right! I’m wondering if this can help other functions, if they tweak it just right.
Humanity ping!
Wonder if this will impact treatment of others with brain injuries.
My daughter has a severe brain injury, but she is not severely handicapped. She’s doing okay despite the injury. However, her speech, hearing, and impulse control (temper tantrums) are not normal. Don’t know what we would do if we could reverse her injury. Part of her personality is what it is because of the injury, and she is a great kid.
Four minutes and twenty-one seconds. Not bad.
I guess he’ll be voting absentee in the Democratic primaries.
Conciousness is controlled by the lesser parts of the brain (cerebellum?). So, I think this device would probably be limited to people who have brain damage there. I doubt that this wuold help people who have damage to the cerebrum. Then again, I’m not an expert, just guessing.
Now there’s a good Christian thankful attitude (’I have learned in every situation to be content’). Praise God for parents like you.
Just what I was thinking and most likely Terri’s parents thinking the same thing.
Please let me know when these go “over-the-counter”. I think I could use one. Dial up for some marathon brainstorming and dial out for a restfull night’s sleep. Maybe they could build in a electronic “push/draw” option with a timer. Or a remote! Then my wife can say, “Pay attention to me this time”, and REALLY crank it up. There are all kinds of posibilities here. Of course there is always the concern about the neighbor’s remote making you break dance or pitch face forward into your dinner. Oh well, the shine’s gone now. Darn it!
Indeed. What will be really interesting is to see if this therapy induces any permanent recovery of lost brain functions, i.e. that will be retained after the device is removed. If so, improvement would likely also continue for some time after the initial improvement is seen. And if it can heal neural tissue in the brain, what other tissues could it heal? Spinal cord?
This is not completely wild speculation, since the ability of electric currents to effect and/or accelerate healing in other parts of the body is well established.
To heal a wound, turn up the voltage
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125624.400-to-heal-a-wound-turn-up-the-voltage.html
OSTEOGENESIS STIMULATOR DEVICES TO ACCELERATE
THE HEALING OF SELECTED BONE FRACTURES
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/mcs/mcpd/MBB/Manual_of_Criteria/ADA_HTML/35_JOsteogenesisStimulatorDevices.htm
The body electric - feel the Chi, Luke. ;)
Though I happen to think the state made the wrong decision in Terri’s case, for reasons which were very sepcific to her cases, the massive structural deterioration of her brain would have precluded any benefit from something like this. Now, there’s some chance that if this had been available many years ago, and been started very shortly after her brain injury, it could have prevented or lessened that structural deterioration. But it was not available then, and she was way past hope of any recovery by the time of the first court directive to disconnect her feeding tube.
IMO, however, that was not a valid reason to disconnect her feeding tube, given that 1) the only tangible evidence of what she would have wanted was that she was a practicing Catholic, and Catholic teaching is to continue non-extraordinary care such as feeding and hydration, and 2) her parents and siblings were more than willing to care for her at their own expense. The unsubstantiated claims by her technical husband as to her prior statements about what she’d want in this sort of situation, should have been given no weight whatsoever, given his obvious conflict of interest in the case. Michael Schiavo is an awesome poster child for the principle of getting government completely out of the marriage business. That government-issued piece of paper designating them as “married” was the one and only thing that gave Michael any legal standing in the case.
This guy's condition wasn't as bad as Terri's. Minimally concious is a near vegetative state, not a permanent one. It is quite unlikely that such stimulation could have helped. Most of her brain was liquified and beyond restoration.
Sounds like it should be standard equipment for blondes.
It could just be me, but this sounds like a bad design for an alarm clock!
Bada-bing! Thanks folks, I'm here all week.
Doc..I appreciate what your trying to say....but as a parent who had quite a hand taking care of my kids...
Terri showed about the same awareness as a newborn....I saw the vids of her...
My statement wasnt a meant to say the device would have helped....but it sure couldnt have hurt...
Was he probed?
Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
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PING!!!
LOL. Be very afraid of garage door openers.
Nice story but yikes, when I first read it I thought it said
a brain pacemaker that may change the way such patients are terminated
Sigh...
My sister Rose had a pacemaker implanted in her brain about three years ago. She has suffered all her life from a rare type of epilepsy that is unresponsive to conventional medicine. It is so rare that they first discovered it in her and it is even named after her. The doctors estimate that possibly 3 to 5 percent of all people with epilepsy may have this condition.
An epileptic seizure is basically caused by an electric storm between the two halves of the brain. Rose wears a bracelet that activates the device. When she feels a seizure coming on she swipes the bracelet over the device in her chest which activates it and sends electrical impulses to the electrodes implanted in the two halves of her brain. This stops the electrical storm in her brain and the seizure is averted.
This device has worked very well for Rose when she senses the seizures beforehand. Unfortunately about 5 percent of the time she is unable to sense the oncoming seizure. Last month she had one of these types of seizures at the grocery store. She fell backwards and fractured her skull in several places. She is doing well now, but must use a wheelchair when going in public places for fear of damaging the same area of her skull.
This implant has been a blessing for my sister and I do hope that they are able to find more uses for this technology.
Thank you for sharing that and Bless you and Rose! I worked for a neurosurgeon and one patient had to have a temporal lobectomy for his gran mals.
The man was an electrician and aside from repeating certain phrases he was fine. Lots of people add words like “and whatnot there” between the ‘meat’ of what they’re saying.
I think I would rather have the implant than the lobectomy.
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