政府新闻
用大脑起搏器治疗罕见的神经系统疾病 2024-10-30
Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital doctors treat an involuntary movement problem with a brain pacemaker.
Doctors in Shanghai said that a device they referred to as a brain pacemaker was utilized to control the symptoms of a patient with movement function impairment.
The 57-year-old woman suffers from Meige syndrome, a rare involuntary movement disorder affecting the brain and nerves that causes periodic spasms of the eye, jaw, tongue, and lower facial muscles.
Doctors at Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital opted to adopt deep brain stimulation, which involves using brain implants, known as neural implants, to treat patients by transmitting electrical signals to regulate their symptoms.
During the procedure, surgeons correctly located the patient's target in the brain and performed the DBS operation.
"When the patient began to receive the stimulation, her two eyes, which had been closed due to the disease for years, could open, and her jaw, which had been spasming uncontrollably, returned to normal," said Dr Zhang Wenchuan, director of the hospital's neurosurgery department.
"DBS can be used to treat epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, significant depression, and other disorders by electrically activating or inhibiting neuron signals. It can help relax muscles and relieve aberrant postures caused by muscle contractions, thereby improving patients' quality of life," Zhang said.
The patient before surgery (left) with closed eyes and uncontrollable jaw spasms and after surgery (right) with open eyes and a normal jaw.
Source: Shanghai Daily
