|
medpundit |
||
 |
 |
|
Friday, April 02, 2004Until doctors attached electrodes deep into Matovic's brain Feb. 9, Tourette's syndrome had made everyday tasks nearly impossible and reduced him to someone in need of childlike care. That was until he was ``turned on'' by University Hospitals of Cleveland doctors. When the electrodes first pulsed into his brain, the twitching stopped, the spasms ended, and, for the first time in years, 31-year-old Jeff Matovic was just another guy from Northeast Ohio who can once again shoot hoops with his brother. ``This has been a long, long time coming,'' Matovic said with a broad, steady smile ina news conference Thursday. ``This is truly the day of my life.'' Matovic's day was made possible by a revolutionary procedure in the treatment of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome -- a condition characterized by motor and vocal tics, which curiously can include profane outbursts. The procedure, called deep brain stimulation, has been used for other movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease. It involves the implantation of electrodes into the part of the brain that coordinates body movements. The electrodes are attached to platinum wires that run beneath the skin from the brain to two pulse generators implanted just under the patient's collarbone. The pulse generators, powered by batteries that last three or four years, shoot low-level electrical impulses through the wire into the patient's brain at regulated increments and levels. These pulses interrupt the brain's poorly functioning motor firings and restore them to normal -- giving the brain's symphony back its conductor. You can read more about deep brain stimulation here. And here's a CT scan image of the electrodes in the brain. (D'oh! What's wrong with me? That's an MRI, not a CT) posted by Sydney on 4/02/2004 08:31:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
|
