My degree is in psychology and I’m many years retired, but due to DBS surgery I remain a very active patient.

Roger

It is refreshing to me to read of a medical professional moderating the comment section of any forum.

All too often from my many years of reading and/or participating in any of these forum settings the dissemination of misinformation is rampant whether inadvertently or otherwise.

While I am not experienced or knowledgeable in the area of DBS, as a very long time support person, caregiver and as I refer to myself as a lay-depression expert to my spouse, I can also state the same holds true for the dissemination of misinformation as it relates to VNS Therapy (Vagus Nerve Stimulation) and the use of MRI.

The bigger issue being as you duly noted the potential to detrimentally heat the electrodes. As with VNS patients they too are capable of having MRI with precautionary information noted, proper equipment and trained medical professionals.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to share your professional knowledge in the hope that others may learn in order to also prevent alarmism and fear mongering.

Warmly,
Herb
VNSdepression.com

Consequently on our med alert pendants we engrave “No MRI’s” subject to review by the surgical team that performed the implant.

Dr Roger Morris, Moderator
DBS Surgery, Yahoo Healh Group

Here are just a handful of issues to think about:

1. We have both excitatory and inhibitory neurons in our brains. When inhibitory neurons fire, they turn off other neurons (or reduce their rate of firing). So an increase in blood flow in one area does not tell us if net activity from that area goes up or down, not with the level of precision you need for the kind of experiment you envision.

2. Electrodes produce artifacts on MRI, because they are metal and conduct electricity, reducing image precision, sometimes severely, anywhere near them.

3. The magnetic field of the MRI can potentially do two things to implanted electrodes. A) they may induce a current to flow through them, which would in turn stimulate the targeted brain area in a completely uncontrolled manner. This would be bad for the person in question, or B) they may actually cause the electrode to move, possibly with considerable force, which essentially turns the electrode into a little scalpel careening through the person’s brain. This would be VERY bad for the person in question. You might get around B by making an electrode out of a non-ferromagnetic metal, but I’m not so sure that the laws of physics allow you to get around A. Your electrode has to be a conductor, or else it won’t work.

(Note that having an implanted ferromagnetic object in any soft part of your body (eg pacemaker) is a contraindication for MRI scanning. One exception is orthopedic hardware because those are fixed firmly into bones)

4. The resolution of functional MRI also isn’t quite good enough for the kind of detail you need for this kind of experiment, at least not yet.

Also, I mean, we may not know the long term effects of the treatment, but we damned sure know the long term effects of suffering with these diseases. If it’s bad enough you ask someone to drill some wires in your brain, crazy cancers or whatever else may be the least of your concern at that point.

Heck, if this therapy could get my mom off the 13 or 14 prescriptions she takes every day, I’d say send her in tomorrow – the drugs are destroying her life bit by bit, and it’s heartbreaking to watch. Cancer after ten or twenty good years of life would beat this slow downward spiral.