Study Begins for Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery
The BRODEAN study has begun at UT Southwestern Medical Center. A first volunteer has been given an implant hoped to help lessen or cure major depression. BRODEAN is short for BROdmann Area 25 DEep brain Neuromodulation. Impressive. What does that Mean? It means people are volunteering for surgery to implant this tiny device that promotes deep brain stimulation (DBS).
See what major depression does to you? You get so desperate that you’ll volunteer for anything in order to get relief.
Not Exactly Brain Surgery
What makes BRODEAN different from other types of brain surgeries? Instead of trying to bore a hole in your skull to stick in an electrode, and then connecting you to a seperate machine, everything you need is stuck inside of you. It’s sort of like a pacemaker for the brain (at least, that’s what Time says). This is how UT Southwestern’s Tony Whitworth, M.D. describes it:
The Libra DBS system’s generator or ‘battery’ is implanted near the collarbone and connected to small electrical leads placed at specific targets in the brain. The implantation surgery takes about two to three hours. Patients typically are able to go home one or two days after the procedure
With everything in place, the Libra DBS system generator delivers mild elecrical current to a particular area of the brain that gets quite active in major depressives called Broadmann Area 25.
No, I don’t get it, either.
Originally For Parkinson’s Disease
DBS first appeared on the medical scene in the late 1980’s as a treatment for Parkinson’s Disease. IT’s also being used as therapy for other neurological disorders that often involve trembling as well as trying to help rehabilitate drug addicts.
Very nice — but stay away from my head. After years of reading Stephen King, I just see too many ways this could go haywire…so to speak.
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