Organic implant will help relieve severe pain
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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In Linköping University, located in Sweden, a team of specialists created a small device that effectively relieves pain. A unique device is created on the basis of organic electronics (ie using organic materials) and is implanted in the patient's body. The device reduces the sensitivity of nerve endings, helping to completely get rid of the pain or significantly reduce the strength of its manifestation.
Linkoping experts managed to create an instrument that sends special signals to the brain via neurotransmitters, which results in blocking of signals from the nerve endings and sensitivity to pain sensations is significantly reduced.
Specialists called the new device an "ion pump". The device lacks electrodes that need to be implanted in the body of the patient, instead, the device is made of organic materials that are fully compatible at the biological level with the human body, the principle of the device is based on the direction of chemical signals and has already been tested in laboratory rodents.
In the experimental group of mice, who implanted the prototype model of the ion pump, scientists noted that the development has the right to the future. The device was implanted in rodents in the spinal cord, it did not completely impede the movements of animals and did not cause them discomfort. As a result, scientists noted that the pain sensitivity of mice in certain parts of the body was completely turned off, and no side effects were observed.
Scientists suggest that in a few years such devices will become an integral part of modern medicine and will be used to relieve pain in patients with severe cases, it is likely that such a device will help with such disorders as epileptic seizures or Parkinson's disease.
Recently, American colleagues said they had discovered a simple and effective method of reducing pain. At Cornell University, experts conducted an experiment in which patients from the Montreal Hospital took part.
All volunteers were divided into four groups, and all participants underwent an uncomplicated operation under mild anesthesia. In the first group, participants were allowed to play computer games during the operation, in the second - to communicate with friends or relatives by correspondence, the third - to correspond with strangers, the fourth group was completely deprived of access to computers or smartphones.
As a result of observations, the researchers found that computer games halved sensitivity to pain in comparison with patients in the fourth group, but participants from the first group felt pain twice as sharply as participants in the second group who were allowed to correspond with relatives and friends. Patients from the third group who corresponded with strangers felt half the pain compared to the participants in the second group and six times less than the participants in the fourth group. The scientists noted that the lowest level of pain was noted among the patients of the third group, who communicated with strangers. According to experts, this is due to the fact that a person was distracted from what is happening and "forgot" about the pain, because he could not complain to a stranger, in contrast to the group that corresponded with friends or relatives.
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