This person is the first participant in the world's clinical trial using deep brain *** (DBS) to treat drug addiction. After more than half a year's operation in Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, there is still no medicine.
But what is DBS and why do some researchers try to use it to treat addiction? Dr Ashe Mehta, director of epilepsy surgery at Northwell Health Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in new york, said:
DBS involves surgically implanting a pacemaker-like device into a specific area of the brain. The current passes through the device and delivers a small electric shock to the target area.
Theoretically, "among drug addicts, electric current aims to control the craving area of the brain, thus reducing the demand for drugs," said Mehta, who has nothing to do with the case of the China man. This area of the brain is called nucleus accumbens.
In the United States, DBS has been approved to treat nervous system diseases, such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. However, using it to treat drug addiction has always been controversial. According to the Independent, although animal research shows promising results, critics of DBS in treating drug addiction are reluctant to advocate its use in humans. In their view, this treatment method does not solve the interaction of biological, social and psychological factors that constitute addictive behavior.
Nevertheless, this method has attracted the attention of American experts, who are desperately looking for new and effective treatments for addiction after other treatments have failed. According to the data of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, in 20 17, more than 70,000 Americans died of drug overdose, including illegal drugs and prescription opioids, which is twice as much as that since 2007. In order to reduce the death caused by drug addiction, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the DBS test. The Independent reported that the Rockefeller Institute of Neuroscience at the University of West Virginia was addicted to opioids. The pilot project led by Dr. Ali Rezai, director of the Institute, will start as early as June. According to the National Institutes of Health database "Clinical Trial s.gov", there are 8 registered clinical trials of DBS drug addiction in the world. China 6, French 1, German 1. In view of the increasingly serious drug epidemic in the United States, Meta agrees that researchers need to explore new treatment methods for addiction. However, he said, DBS is only part of a comprehensive treatment plan. "Like epilepsy, DBS is an integral part of drug addiction treatment," Meta told Life Science, adding that it is a surgical supplement to drug and behavioral therapy. "He added that like any surgical operation, there are risks, and DBS is no exception. "Mehta said that the main risks are bleeding, infection and stroke, but the overall risk of healthy young people is lower.
We learned 65,438+00 things about the brain in 2065,438+08. These "barbaric" medical methods are still in use today. 10 What you don't know KDSP was first published in Life Science magazine.