St Jude Medical brain implants could be secret to quitting drinking or smoking
- Implant targets the part of the brain responsible for controlling cravings
- It allows scientists to ‘talk’ to the brain through electrical stimulation
- Since surgery, none of the patients with the implant have abused alcohol
- Scientists believe it could be used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder
Rosie Taylor for the Daily Mail
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Giving up drinking or smoking could be made much easier – using a brain implant which banishes cravings.
Scientists are trialling the pioneering technique which involves implanting a tiny, programmable device into the brain.
The implant targets the part of the brain responsible for controlling cravings and also helps to reduce levels of stress, which can worsen addictions.
The part of the brain responsible for controlling cravings will be targeted by the implant to help to reduce levels of stress, which can worsen addictions
It uses cutting-edge neuro-stimulators made by US company St Jude Medical which are designed to enable scientists to ‘talk’ to the brain through electrical stimulation.
Neurosurgeon Professor Dirk De Ridder, from the University of Otago, has inserted implants into the brains of six alcoholic patients – but he hopes to get 10 participants by the end of the year.
It was the first study of its kind in the world to target alcoholic cravings through an implant.
Since surgery, none of the patients have abused alcohol and two have also given up smoking.
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The results also suggest that the implant could help with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which is controlled by the same part of the brain as addictions.
Previous trials in Germany used implants to fight alcoholism by targeting the reward centres of the brain but almost all of the participants had relapsed.
Professor De Ridder said that the latest study was unique in targeting cravings – one of three main reasons addicts relapse.
The implant uses cutting-edge technology which is designed to enable scientists to ‘talk’ to the brain through electrical stimulation, experts say
The other two reasons were stress and cues, such as walking past a bar or seeing a supermarket offer.
He said: ‘You can’t do anything about cues, and you can treat stress but that probably isn’t so efficient, so that’s why we opted to go after cravings.
‘But the interesting thing is the target we are using overlaps with an area in the brain that also involves stress, so it has benefits for cravings and stress.’
The preliminary results of the research will be presented at a conference in Barcelona next year and, if successful, will be widened to include more patients from around the world.
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