Man In Coma Regains Consciousness After Ultrasound Treatment
- 8 years ago
According to a new study, researchers at UCLA have been able to ‘jump start’ the brain of a man in a coma after treating him with a non-invasive technique which uses low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation.
Researchers at UCLA are crediting a noninvasive ultrasound technique with helping a man recover from a coma more quickly.
According to a press release issued by the university, the method is called low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation, and it involves a small device used to aim acoustic energy at the thalamus, which is considered “the brain’s central hub for processing information.”
This part of the brain is targeted because “in people whose mental function is deeply impaired after a coma, thalamus performance is typically diminished.”
The team’s recently published study describes the case of the 25-year-old man who had made limited progress after being in a coma.
However, he began to show a marked improvement after they treated him with the device by activating it “10 times for 30 seconds each, in a 10-minute period.”
As the release states, “Three days later, the patient had regained full consciousness and full language comprehension.”
The next step is to test the technique on more patients, and in the long-run, researchers envision the creation of a portable device “as a low-cost way to help ‘wake up’ patients.”
Researchers at UCLA are crediting a noninvasive ultrasound technique with helping a man recover from a coma more quickly.
According to a press release issued by the university, the method is called low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation, and it involves a small device used to aim acoustic energy at the thalamus, which is considered “the brain’s central hub for processing information.”
This part of the brain is targeted because “in people whose mental function is deeply impaired after a coma, thalamus performance is typically diminished.”
The team’s recently published study describes the case of the 25-year-old man who had made limited progress after being in a coma.
However, he began to show a marked improvement after they treated him with the device by activating it “10 times for 30 seconds each, in a 10-minute period.”
As the release states, “Three days later, the patient had regained full consciousness and full language comprehension.”
The next step is to test the technique on more patients, and in the long-run, researchers envision the creation of a portable device “as a low-cost way to help ‘wake up’ patients.”