To have conscious surgery a true horror of the idea of experience–. Often, however, surgeons have no other choice, and without the need for anesthesia to work. US Doctors have now stimulated the brain of a patient with electrical pulses so that they survived the Operation in a good mood and completely relaxed.
Physicians must about brain tumours that are close to the Visual or linguistic center, remove, the Patient must be during the Operation awake. Only in this way, the surgeon can go for that during the operation neither the vision nor the linguistic skills to be attacked.
Surgery without anesthesia, but carries many risks. “Even well-prepared patients can get during an awake operation in a panic, what can be dangerous,” explains Neurosurgeon Kelly Bijanky of Emory University in Atlanta, the “Bayerischer Rundfunk”. To avoid panic attacks and the patient as quiet as possible, work scientists for a long time, a practice that is designed to facilitate the complex procedures in the brain.
Pulses of rain belt winding
Scientists from Atlanta in the US state of Georgia now report, managed to doctors to stimulate the brain of a 23-year-old epilepsy patient with electrical pulses. They suggested the so-called belt winding in the limbic System, the Region, which is for feelings responsible. Although the Doctors asked the patient to think of a sad Situation, chuckled at this consistently, and said: "The just feels good."
The same method applied to the Doctors later in the same patient, in order to calm them during a further operation of the brain. During the procedure, the young woman was so happy that she even told me jokes.
Only a few patients have implanted electrodes
As the doctors stated in an article in the “Journal of Clinical Investigation”, had been interrupted by the Stimulation during the intervention, for a Moment, unintentionally. The cheerfulness of the patient suddenly disappeared, you had become nervous and anxious, and I almost started to cry.
With the continuation of the Stimulation, the positive feelings of the young woman had returned. Similar results were also obtained in Experiments with two other patients with epilepsy.
In all cases, the method was used, half the Doctors that the patients had already been implanted electrodes. Usually, however, this is rarely the case, only a few epilepsy or Parkinson’s patients and people suffering from Tourette’s syndrome, can be treated.
Computing tasks, mental Exercises, hypnosis
The electrodes prior to brain surgery to install, would be too expensive, explains the Director of the clinic for neurosurgery at the University hospital of Münster, Walter Stummer, “BR”: "It requires a large, inter-disciplined Team of neurosurgery, neurology and neuro-physiology."
In patients without electrodes, therefore, still other methods must be applied. Computing tasks, mental Exercises, or some of the painkillers that do not affect consciousness, can distract patients and so relax. In addition, some Engriffe take place in the brain under hypnosis.