Chronic pain has long been a nightmare for millions of people as traditional treatments often do not bring long-term results, according to indianexpress.
However, a new study from the University of California (USA) has opened a breakthrough when personalized brain transplant devices, capable of detecting real-time pain signals and responding with deep brain stimulation (DBS) are specifically adjusted for each patient.
DBS was originally a method of applying electrical pulses to brain regions to regulate nerve activity, but was previously often applied according to a general formula, leading to inconsistent results.
Dr. Prasad Shirvalkar's team conducted tests on 6 patients with resistance pain, recording brain activity at 14 locations for more than 10 days.
Through data analysis, they identify each person's own "painkiller map", thereby adjusting the frequency and location of stimulation to optimize.
The results showed that five of the six patients achieved significant pain relief, with an average pain intensity reduction of up to 50% when stimulated in practice, compared to only 11% in fake stimulation.
A patient, although not much pain relief, has recovered her mobility, and can even hug her wife after many years. This is an improvement that is assessed to be of special significance.
The important difference of the new device is the adaptability when DBS only works when pain signals appear and automatically turns off when patients are sleeping.
Thanks to that, the effectiveness of maintaining stability throughout 3.5 years of monitoring, while improving related factors such as depression, quality of life and daily step counts (up 18%).
Professor Tim Denison (October 1) believes this is a turning point study, showing that personalization and adaptive stimulation can overcome the "weak" disadvantage of traditional DBS.
Denison said that further studies need to directly compare the two approaches, while addressing the challenge of cost and affordability, as well as developing less invasive neurotransmitter technologies.
With this promising result, personalized brain transplantation can become a breakthrough solution, opening up new hope for millions of chronic pain patients worldwide.
