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MONDAY, Feb. 4, 2019 (HealthDay News) – Brain surgery is bad enough, but someday, patients may laugh at it.
According to a new study, a young woman with epilepsy who underwent surgery at Emory University in Atlanta did exactly that, even going as far as making jokes during her speech.
Neuroscientists from the Emory School of Medicine have discovered that stimulating a certain area of the brain can cause laughter and arouse good emotions in patients who have to stay awake during an operation of the brain.
This particular patient was the subject of a diagnostic monitoring of epileptic seizures. First, they discovered that electrical stimulation of a white matter tract in the brain, called a cingulum beam, caused immediate laughter, followed by a sense of calm and happiness.
"She reported an involuntary desire to laugh that started at the beginning of the stimulation and evolved into a pleasant feeling of relaxation over a few seconds of stimulation," the researchers explained.
The surgeons then used this technique two days later, during an operation of his brain.
This approach could be a "potentially transformative" way to calm some patients during an awake brain operation, even for those who are not particularly anxious, suggested the surgeons.
In some cases, patients must remain awake and not be sedated during a brain operation to monitor and protect their vital functions. By talking with patients, doctors can badess their language skills to detect any problems related to surgery.
But even "well-prepared patients may panic during a waking operation, which can be dangerous," said lead author Kelly Bijanki, in a press release issued by the newspaper. ;university.
"This particular patient was particularly exposed to it because of moderate anxiety initially," said Bijanki, badistant professor in neurosurgery.
"And upon awakening from the global anesthesia, she actually started to panic.When we lit the stimulation of her cingulum, she immediately declared that she felt happy and relaxed, told jokes about her family and was able to tolerate the waking procedure successfully, "she continued. .
The scientists confirmed that they confirmed the beneficial effects of electrical stimulation of the cingulum beam in two other patients with epilepsy undergoing diagnostic surveillance.
The study was published on 4 February in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
According to the researchers, cingulum beam stimulation could also prove useful in brain tumor surgery.
"We could be more certain of the safe limits for the removal of pathological tissues and the preservation of tissues encoding essential human functions such as language, emotional or sensory functions, which can not be badessed with the sedated patient", said Bijanki.
"In addition, although substantial additional studies are needed in this area, the cingulum package could become a new target for chronic deep brain stimulation therapies for anxiety disorders, mood and pain," said Bijanki.
The researchers provided this video of the unidentified patient responding to electrode stimulation:
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about epilepsy.
SOURCE: Emory University Press Release, February 4, 2019
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