An innovative technique has opened a new door for many doctors and patients in clinical trials. Due to a recent discovery, professionals in the medical field will be able to stimulate deep regions of the brain, such as the ones related to emotion and memory. What sets this new form of medical technology apart from other more conventional methodologies is the fact that there will be no need to open the patient’s skull, rendering surgery unnecessary. Moreover, similar clinical advancements are currently being used by Verita Neuro at our hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.
Conventional techniques help stimulate the brain by applying electrodes to the patients’ skulls, improving brain functions. Some of the functions include an enhancement of intelligence or relieving a person’s depression. However, these techniques are somewhat limited, as they cannot reach deep regions of the brain.
Nevertheless, implants used in deep brain stimulation (DBS) have proven to be successfully efficient in altering the inner brain. Still, with these devices there is always some risk involved, as they require surgery and it is hard to easily repair the implants if they don’t function properly.
In the month of November, the annual conference of the Society for Neuroscience was held in San Diego, California. During the even, neuro-engineer Dr. Nir Grossman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge (MIT), together with some of his colleagues, presented their method of transcranial stimulation (TCS) for the deeper parts of the brain.
Dr. Grossman’s approach involves sending electrical signals through the brain with the help of electrodes that have been previously placed on the patients´ scalps. This will help manipulate the electrical currents making surgery entirely unnecessary and obsolete. The group of scientists tested the device by using it on the skull of mice. They gave the skulls two electric currents, right behind the ears and tuned them two distinct currents, which ended up converging at the hippocampus.
As for today, medical professionals started testing this technique on human volunteers. Each one of the volunteers has to lie in a brain scanner while the researchers measure how brain activity changes in the hippocampus when responding to the TCS.
Verita Neuro offers its patients a similar technique, such as the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), which helps stimulate small and isolated regions of the brain. This has greatly helped hundreds of patients suffering from a wide array of medical conditions. The results speak for themselves and the improvements patients have been having are quite remarkable. This technique is an integral part of our Stem Cell treatments.
If you would like to know more about our treatments and medical therapies, please contact us so that we can get back to you at your earliest convenience with more information on how we can help you. We will be happy to assist you in every way possible.
H/T Nature.com
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