Scientists are getting better in predicting when a patient will wake up from a coma. When someone wakes up from this dangerous state, the effects can be devastating and the person may never regain his full functionality. Recovery can take years, but doctors at the University of California are testing a new therapy that can drastically accelerate this process - they isolate low-energy focused ultrasound on helping the patient's brain to "start".
Martin Monti/UCLA
The study is still at a very early stage but seems to have worked at least for a 25-year-old patient who has shown remarkable progress after therapy. Before using sound stimulation to excite the neurons in the thalamus - a zone in the brain that regulates sensory perceptions - the patient showed a very weak reaction and had trouble understanding speech. Only a few days after the therapy, he was fully alert, responding, and actively communicating with mimics and gestures. If this therapy proves successful in later clinical trials, it could lead to cheap and effective devices that help comatose patients wake up and recover from this condition.
