A brain implant that gradually stimulates normal appetite and lifts mood. This is the first time the brain implant treatment has been tried on severely anorexic patients, and suggests that other mental illnesses like eating disorders might be treated similarly. Six patients, all women with severe anorexia nervosa aged 24 to 57, were in such poor health that they agreed to enroll in the risky treatment pilot study at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre in Toronto, Canada. None of them had responded to previous eating disorder treatments, and all were at a high risk of dying of the illness. One of the patients suffered from anorexia symptoms for 37 years, and four of them had been admitted to the hospital more than 10 times. All of them except one also suffered from psychiatric conditions like major depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Researchers say that the study results, published in the medical journal The Lancet on March 6, "give hope to patients with especially pernicious forms of the disorder and their families."
Reference: Lipsman N. et al. Subcallosal cingulate deep stimulation for treatment-refractory anorexia nervose - a pilot study. Lancet 2013 Mar 6
No comments:
Post a Comment