Scientists in France may have discovered a key to helping those with brain trauma
by MedPage Today Staff September 25, 2017
Scientists from France’s National Center for Scientific Research report that a patient in a persistent vegetative state demonstrated signs of consciousness after electric stimulation, according to STAT.
The man was in a vegetative state for 15 years following injury sustained in a car accident. The researchers implanted the device in his chest and stimulated the vagus nerve for a month, after which he became “minimally conscious, responding to some signals from the outside world,” showing signs of a stronger theta signal.
There’s no word from the scientists in this study if this type of therapy can be scaled to treat a large population of patients.