Science may one day do so…now? –

Jan. 19, 2020 – Dr. Plummer tried treatment – rehab programmes, support groups, counselling, medications – but any relief was temporary. He would inevitably slip back into drinking. “It was pretty hopeless cycle and it was very tough on my family and my wife, Jo, and on my children and my stepchildren,” he says. “I was in the hospital a lot, I almost died several times.” 

He went looking for help – “a more robust clinical solution, perhaps one not yet discovered” – and was referred to two neurosurgeons at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital. They were recruiting patients for an experimental procedure being conducted in North America for the first time, using deep brain stimulation (DBS) to help patients with treatment-resistant alcohol use disorder. The surgical trial is testing how safe and effective DBS is for alcohol addiction. 

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• Brain implants used to fight drug addiction in US

DBS has been used for over 25 years to help treat movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease. Roughly 200,000 DBS surgeries have been performed around the world, many for the nervous system disorder.

@BBC