Word: braine
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Although researchers freely confess that they don't know how rTMS works, they do have some ideas. It has long been clear that neurons in different parts of the brain can act in concert. Of particular interest are the circuits that link the areas of the cortex that help us reason and plan our lives with more deeply embedded zones of the brain such as the limbic system, where emotions are processed. One theory holds that depression is either caused by or results in an imbalance in the activity in those regions. Applying periodic bursts of electrical current...
...knows how long such a reset might last and whether aiming the magnet at a different part of the brain would work any better. But that hasn't stopped neurologists from trying rTMS on other conditions. For example, specialized MRI scans can pinpoint where stroke damage has occurred and what parts of the brain are trying to take over for the affected regions. Could the right combination of stimulation and inhibition help stroke victims overcome their disabilities...
...Wayne State University in Detroit, Dr. Randall Benson is studying 28 stroke patients to see if he can enhance their impaired speech after existing therapies are no longer effective. First they undergo a brain scan to see which of their language centers are still at least partially active. Then Benson targets those regions with rTMS. "Because things like language are regulated in the brain by a network, when we stimulate in one place, we find activation all over the brain," Benson says...
Using a slightly different approach, Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone at Harvard Medical School is beginning to see improvements in his stroke patients' speech. Instead of boosting activity in the compensating areas of the brain, Pascual-Leone is trying to disrupt the neural pathways that block recovery. "What the brain tries to do as a first-line response is to shut down activity in damaged areas," he explains. That gives the neurons that are only slightly damaged a chance to recover before coming back online. But in some stroke patients, the inhibitory network never lets up. By weakening those neurons with...
These scientists are the first to admit that they are treating a dizzyingly complex organ--the human brain--with not much more than educated guesswork. But when you hear the gratitude in Martha's voice as she talks about what it's like to get her life back after so many years of deep depression, it seems a risk worth taking. --With reporting by Alice Park/ New York...