Electricity and awakenings in vegetative state
A new study documents the effects of brain stimulation in vegetative state, a paradoxial unconscious state. As it seems, stimulation of the thalami – deep yet vital parts of the information processing in the brain – may help patients move from an unconscious state towards a minimally conscious state. As such, these results indicate that […]
A new study documents the effects of brain stimulation in vegetative state, a paradoxial unconscious state. As it seems, stimulation of the thalami – deep yet vital parts of the information processing in the brain – may help patients move from an unconscious state towards a minimally conscious state. As such, these results indicate that deep brain stimulation may be used clinically for raising patients’ level of consciousness.
In a recent review it is also claimed that electric stimulation can have a positive effect on unconscious or disturbed mental states such as coma and Alzheimer’s disease.
Deep brain stimulation therapy for the vegetative state.
Yamamoto & Katayama in Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2005 Jul-Sep ; 15(3-4): 406-13
Abstract
Twenty-one cases of a vegetative state (VS) caused by various kinds of brain damage were evaluated neurologically and electrophysiologically three months after brain injury. These cases were treated by deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy, and followed up for over 10 years. The mesencephalic reticular formation was selected as a target in two cases, and the thalamic centre median-parafascicular (CM-pf) complex was selected as a target in the other 19 cases. Eight of the 21 patients emerged from the VS, and became able to obey verbal commands. However, they remained in a bedridden state except for one case. DBS therapy may be useful for allowing patients to emerge from a VS, if the candidates are selected according to appropriate neurophysiological criteria. A special neurorehabilitation system may be necessary for emergence from the bedridden state in the treatment of VS patients. Further, DBS therapy is expected to provide a useful method in minimally conscious state (MCS) patients to achieve consistent discernible behavioural evidence of consciousness, and emergence from the bedridden state.
Electrical treatment of reduced consciousness: experience with coma and Alzheimer’s disease.
Cooper, Scherder & Cooper in Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2005 Jul-Sep ; 15(3-4): 389-405
The right median nerve can be stimulated electrically to help arouse the central nervous system for persons with reduced levels of consciousness. The mechanisms of central action include increased cerebral blood flow and raised levels of dopamine. There is 11 years of experience in the USA of using nerve stimulation for acute coma after traumatic brain injury. There is a much longer period of experience by neurosurgeons in Japan with implanted electrodes on the cervical spinal cord for persons in the persistent vegetative state (PVS). But the use of right median nerve electrical stimulation (RMNS) for patients in the subacute and chronic phases of coma is relatively new. Surface electrical stimulation to treat anoxic brain injury as well as traumatic brain injury is evolving. Novel applications of electrical stimulation in Amsterdam have produced cognitive behavioural effects in persons with early and mid-stage Alzheimer’s disease employing transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Improvements in short-term memory and speech fluency have also been noted. Regardless of the aetiology of the coma or reduced level of awareness, electrical stimulation may serve as a catalyst to enhance central nervous system functions. It remains for the standard treatments and modalities to retrain the injured brain emerging from reduced levels of consciousness.
Hello. I find all this information very interesting. My question is could some sort of brain stimulation help my father. He has been in a coma for about 8 years. The doctors never gave me a clear answer as to what put him in this vegetative status. They tell me he can’t feel nothing, he can’t respond, and what I see coming from him is his nerves causing him to respond to me. I don’t agree with them. I will go stand over him and ask him to give me a kiss, and he will pucker up his lips and do it. Do you think you can give me more information please?
Brain Stimulation and “Awakenings”
It is my hypothesis that all tissues rely on DHEA for optimal function, especially the brain. Direct effects of DHEA on the brain are numerous and the natural decline of DHEA of old age directly parallels the loss of brain function.
The recent report of brain stimulation and “awakenings” involved stimulation of the thalamus. I suggest stimulation of the thalamus that produced an improvement in brain function is due to stimulation of DHEA. The thalamus is a center high in prolactin-releasing peptide, which has been shown to stimulate “awakenings” (Neuroscience 2002; 114: 229-38). Prolactin has been shown to specifically stimulate DHEA production. It has also been reported that DHEAS, the precursor of DHEA, “improves cognitive and behavioral deficits after mild traumatic brain injury” (Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2007 July 30; Milman, et al., epub ahead of print).
I suggest that the vegetative state may result from phenomena that cause reductions in DHEA.
James Michael Howard
Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S.A.