Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sending electrical shocks into the brain via a “brain pacemaker” has already led to dramatic breakthroughs like the revival of a man trapped in a vegetative state for six years, but new research may mean that the technique is soon a common treatment for disorders like depression and OCD. Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, Mass General, Harvard Medical School and Brown Medical School implanted the Medtronics brain pacemaker into 17 citizens suffering from depression and tracked them for a year, finding significant improvements in mood

as well as social and occupational functioning, while 26 patients suffering from OCD were followed for three years and plus showed “marked improvement.” Findings will be presented to the American organization of Neurological Surgeons that week in Chicago, and clinical trials are scheduled for later that year — in other news, sales of “The Terminal Man” to neurosurgeons recently skyrocketed for unknown reasons.

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Original post by Nilay Patel