Wired Science have got a great short film that follows two people who have deep brain stimulation devices implanted in their brains to treat tremors.While most people assume brain surgery is all pre-planned beforehand, for many treatments for cognitive or behavioural functions, the surgeons need to wake up the patient after they’ve open their skull to make sure they’re targeting the right place (and avoiding damaging essential functions).
In this case, they wake the patients up during neurosurgery so they can test out their movements while stimulating different areas of the brain, in a trial and error style.
Video of deep brain stimulation neurosurgery and ‘The Brain of an Alzheimer’s Patient’.
via MindHacks