Scientists Use Ultrasound to Wake Up Coma Patients

A team led by UCLA neuroscientist Martin Monti is bringing new hope for the recovery of coma patients. 

Just recently, the team carried out an experimental ultrasound treatment on three patients, two of which had positive results. Both patients had only been showing limited signs of consciousness for months following severe brain injuries. However, after the treatment, they began to show improvements in their condition. 

While they still weren’t back to their normal pre-coma state, one patient, for example, began to move their head again indicating “yes” or “no”  to certain questions. Such quick results are unusual in patients who are in a minimally conscious state for a prolonged period of time. 

This is not the first time Monti successfully jump-starts a coma patient’s brain. Back in 2016, the neuroscientist used ultrasound treatment on a 25-year-old man recovering from a coma. And the man made remarkable progress following the treatment. 

Back then, Monti thought he may have gotten lucky but now he has the results to prove ultrasound treatment works. “I consider this new result much more significant because these chronic patients were much less likely to recover spontaneously than the acute patient we treated in 2016 — and any recovery typically occurs slowly over several months and more typically years, not over days and weeks, as we show,” said Monti. “It’s very unlikely that our findings are simply due to spontaneous recovery.”

The treatment involves using sonic stimulation to excite the neurons in a brain region called the thalamus. It is described as “jump-starting” the brain. 

More research results can be found in the Brain Stimulation journal.