Improved processing speed of a brain implanted with mstbI for long-term cognitive rehabilitation using a novel neuroimaging technique

The trial data, published in Nature Medicine on 4 December1, show that the five participants had a 15–52% improvement in their processing speed in a cognitive test after three months compared to their performance before the DBS implants.

It is possible to make a difference years from injury if the improved performance of the device is any indication.

Brain circuits are disconnected because of brain injuries, leading to long-term cognitive difficulties. More than five million people in the United States suffer from this type of injury and many can’t resume their pre-injury life and work.

All of the participants, all of whom had experienced mstbI for at least two years, had their brains wired in order to stop the effects of the disease. The researchers spent 14 days tweaking the stimulation parameters for each participant. Then, they used the implants to apply an electrical current at a frequency of 150–185 hertz for 12 hours a day for three months.

The research team designed treatment approaches for the five people who took part in the study, using a range of therapies, including brain images and atlases, to precisely target the thalamus.

Deep brain stimulation can improve cognitive function in trauma patients and enhance executive function in the brain: A Cornell neuroanatomy participant’s experience with a pacemaker

The researchers used a test that assessed three aspects of cognitive functioning. People had to connect numbers or letters in a pattern.

The team hopes to carry on this work by running larger trials, says study co-author Nicholas Schiff, a neurologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. They would also like to develop a reliable protocol to train other centres to deliver the treatment.

“We don’t have a lot of tools to offer them,” Little says, adding that “even a 10 percent change in function can make the difference between being able to return to your job or not.”

If deep brain stimulation proves effective in a large study, she says, it might help a large number of brain injury patients who have run out of rehabilitation options.

“Once we put the wires in, we then hook the wires up to a pacemaker-like device that’s implanted in the chest,” Henderson says. “Then that device can be programmed on its own.”

Henderson operated on five patients, including Arata. All had sustained brain injuries at least two years before receiving the implant.

The team hoped that stimulating this hub would help patients like Arata by improving connections with the brain’s executive center, which is involved in planning, focus, and memory.

That region, called the central lateral nucleus, acts as a communications hub in the brain and plays an important role in determining our level of consciousness.

Gina Arata’s Story About Finding a Job at a Hospital for a Patient With Deep Brain Stimulated Consciousness

In 2007, he was part of a team that used deep brain stimulation to help a patient in a minimally conscious state become more aware and responsive. He and Henderson took a different approach to testing people like Gina Arata.

The paper was the culmination of years of research led by Dr. Schiff, a professor of neurological and neuroscience at New York’s Weill Cornell Medicine.

The results show promise, the underlying science is strong and Deborah Little is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UT Health in Houston.

Arata could list items in the produce aisle of the store when stimulation was turned on. When it was off, she had trouble naming any.

Arata hasn’t found a job yet. Two years ago, while studying to become a dental assistant, she was sidelined by a rare condition that caused inflammation in her spinal cord.