Brains of two comatose patients revived by ultrasound

Will we soon be able to wake people from a long coma? American researchers from UCLA have taken a step forward in this direction. They managed to jump-start the brains of two patients with severe brain damage who were in a long-term state of minimal consciousness. Their technique: using ultrasound. The results were published online Jan. 15 in the journal Brain Stimulation.

Two successes out of three patients

This scientific prowess is not a first. Already in 2016, the same team of researchers managed to revive the brain of a 25-year-old man then in a coma. Martin Monti, who led the research teams, had recognized that this small miracle rested on a part of luck. In this new study, still led by Martin Monti, two patients were able to see their brains revived, sweeping away any presumption of luck.

“I consider this new result to be much more significant because these chronic patients were much less likely to recover spontaneously than the acute patient we treated in 2016 – and any recovery usually happens slowly, over months and more usually years, not over days and weeks, as we showsaid the professor of psychology and neurosurgery and co-lead author of the new article. It is highly unlikely that our findings are simply due to spontaneous healing..”

Scientists tried to wake up the brains of three patients using ultrasound. The third, a 58-year-old man who had suffered a car accident five and a half years before the treatment and who was unconscious, did not benefit from it unlike the other two.

One is a 56-year-old man who had suffered a stroke and had been in a minimally conscious state, unable to communicate, for more than 14 months. After the first of two treatments, he demonstrated, for the first time, the ability to respond coherently to two separate commands: the ability to drop or pick up a ball, and the ability to gaze into photographs two separate of his relatives when their names were mentioned. He was also able to nod or shake his head to indicate “yes” or “no” when asked questions such as “Is X your name?” and “Is your wife’s name there?” In the days following the second treatment, he also demonstrated, for the first time since the stroke, the ability to use pen to paper and put a bottle to his mouth, as well as communicate and respond. to the questions. “Above all, these behaviors are diagnostic markers of the emergence of a disorder of consciousness.”, observed Martin Monti.

acoustic energy

The other patient who benefited from the treatment is a 50-year-old woman who had suffered a cardiac arrest two years previously. In the days following the first treatment, she was able, for the first time in years, according to her family, to recognize a pencil, a comb and other objects. “What is remarkable is that both showed significant responses just days after the procedure.welcomed the co-lead author of the study. It’s what we were hoping for, but it’s amazing to see it with your own eyes. Seeing two of our three patients who had been in a chronic disease improve very significantly within days of treatment is an extremely promising result..”

The scientists used a technique called low-intensity focused ultrasound, which uses sound stimulation to excite neurons in the thalamus, an egg-shaped structure that serves as the central hub for the brain to function. “After a coma, the function of the thalamus is usually weakened”, explained Martin Monti. The doctors used a saucer-sized device that creates a small sphere of acoustic energy that can be aimed at different regions of the brain to excite brain tissue. The researchers placed the device next to each patient’s head and activated it 10 times for 30 seconds each over a 10-minute period. Each patient underwent two sessions, one week apart.

Further research needed

The objective of the researchers is to continue the work and lead to the manufacture of an inexpensive portable device. The treatment appears to be well tolerated by patients, the researchers noted. They found no changes in the patients’ blood pressure, heart rate or blood oxygen levels and no other adverse events. “It will take a few more years before this device is available to the public.concluded Professor Monti. At this time, there is little that can be done to help patients recover from severe brain injury that results in a chronic vegetative state or minimally conscious state..” Additional studies to learn exactly how thalamic ultrasound changes brain function are planned.