Brain injury victims are 'zapped back to life'
Brain injury victims are 'zapped back to life'
Severely brain damaged patients have been brought briefly ‘back to life’ by shocking their brain with an electrical current.
Some patients were able to move their hands or follow some simple instructions such as answering questions. From this it could lead to the new treatment of people left unconscious by accidents such as car accidents or blows to the head.
If patients can be communicated with for a short period of time it raises the possibility that patients would be able to tell doctors if they wanted to live or die or if they could feel much pain. The reason for these thoughts is that some family members have to make difficult decisions whether to remove a loved one’s life support and this could rule it out in the future.
Dr Laureys, of the University of Liege in Belgium, treated 55 people with severe brain injuries. Some were in a vegetative state, which meant they appeared awake but were unresponsive to the world around them. Others were in a minimally conscious state, in which patients show fleeting signs of alertness but recovery is not guaranteed.
The effects of the shocks wore off after two hours but the team are now investigating the effects of brain stimulation for longer. New Scientist says “This discovery has clear medical benefits: it should help doctors make better assessments of patients’ conditions.”