Coma patient suddenly awakened thanks to ultrasound waves

A 25-year-old American man in a deep coma due to a traumatic brain injury suddenly woke up after doctors implanted an ultrasound device to restart his brain.

Previously, the patient showed only scant signs of cognitive and speech comprehension abilities.. One day after the ultrasound device was implanted, his reactions improved significantly. By the third day, the patient regained full awareness, could communicate by nodding or shaking his head, and even made hand signals to greet the doctor.

According to Independent, the ultrasound transmitter was developed by a professor of psychiatry.Alexander Bystritsky from the University of California (USA) created, the size of a coffee saucer. It creates an energy ball that can "shoot" to different parts of the brain. In the case of a 25-year-old man, the researchers placed the device in the patient's brain and activated it 10 times, each time for 30 seconds.

An ultrasound device emits a beam of energy to reboot the brain. Photo: Martin Monti/UCLA.

Professor Martin Monti, who participated in the treatment, said: "We almost rebooted, bringing the nerve cells back to normal function." He affirmed that this method affects the thalamus area of ​​the brain but is non-invasive, with fewer risks than the previous method of implanting electrodes directly into the brain. In addition, the device is very safe because it contains less energy than the ultrasound technique used to examine the fetus in the womb.

The team of scientists now plans to test ultrasound on other patients.If successful, they could create a handheld device that could "wake up" people who are in a vegetative state or have limited awareness.

According to VNE