Doctors Jump-Start Patient’s Brain Out of a Coma Using an Ultrasound

Doctors at UCLA have high hopes for head trauma patients, after they recently jump-started a 25-year old man’s brain out of a coma, for the first time, using an ultrasound.

Martin Monti, a UCLA associate professor of psychology and neurosurgery, and his team, used low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation that stirs up the neurons in the thalamus — where the brain processes information. The patient regained full consciousness and full language comprehension after only three days of recovery, an “incredible miracle” the UCLA team says. He even fist-bumped one of the doctors goodbye!

Monti’s method requires further study, to determine if ultrasounds will be an effective treatment for people in comas. If the study goes well, they’ll work on building low-cost portable devices.

“The changes were remarkable,” Martin Monti said. “It’s almost as if we were jump-starting the neurons back into function. It is possible that we were just very lucky and happened to have stimulated the patient just as he was spontaneously recovering.

Check out the full story over at Futurism.