Applying ultrasound waves to the brain could be key to overcoming addiction.
That’s according to new research into a million-dollar helmet-like device that emits these high-frequency waves to a key part of the brain responsible for reward, motivation and addiction.
This region, called the nucleus accumbens, is located in the middle of the brain and when ultrasound waves reach the area, they cause cell membranes to vibrate and alter the reward system that people experience, leading to addiction.
Doctors at West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) recently tested the strategy on a 39-year-old man who has been addicted for more than 20 years.
John Hilton’s brain was electrocuted for about 30 minutes while he watched images of heroin cooked in a spoon and injected into his arm.
Once the process was complete, Hilton said the need to use “simply didn’t exist.”
The new method is an FDA-approved medical procedure that involves inserting small electrodes into two small holes drilled in the skull and inserting them into the reward area of the brain.
Researchers hope that by eliminating the reward system that causes those alcohol or opioid cravings, people can more easily manage triggers or everyday stressors that can lead to addiction.
A new clinical trial involving 30 people is using 1,000 ultrasound waves to change the way the brain responds to substance abuse such as alcoholism and opioid abuse.
‘There is a lot of traffic between the addiction center of the brain and the rest of the brain. Over time, that traffic disappears,” said Dr. Ali Rezai, neurosurgeon and CEO of the RNI. Wall Street Journal.
“The addiction center is no longer in charge.”
Drug overdoses are responsible for more than 100,000 deaths each year, but researchers are now testing whether ultrasound waves can retrain the brain cells that cause addiction.
An estimated 2.7 million people ages 12 and older are addicted to opioids in the United States, while approximately 28.9 million Americans suffer from alcohol abuse, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Current treatment methods require the addict to take medications that block the high they get from opioids or alcohol.
But the new method targets the physical part of the brain to change the way a person’s brain reacts.
Researchers first tested DBS on a patient in 2021 and have since conducted the test on two other patients.
James Mahoney, Ph.D., who works at RNI, said, “We were all impressed with the patient’s bravery in helping to explore new treatment options for substance use disorder.
“While current treatment options for substance use disorder work for many, they do not work for everyone for a variety of reasons.”
The RNI researchers found that when pulsed wavelengths were inserted into the area of the brain that triggers a reward system, they could prevent the participant from having a craving related to images of the drug.
However, Hilton was part of a randomized, blinded clinical trial, meaning participants did not know what treatment or intervention they had received.
This followed a previous successful trial of 20 patients who knew they were receiving the wavelength treatment.
In that trial, patients who had reported using drugs for most of their lives found that their cravings were reduced to almost zero and almost 75 percent were still clean several months later.
RNI researchers have received $5 million in funding from the NIH and plan to conduct additional trials in the coming months together with Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of Maryland.
Although the researchers are optimistic about their findings, they cautioned that the treatment will still need to be combined with other coping mechanisms in the future.
James Mahoney, clinical neuropsychologist at RNI, told WSJ: “If you eliminate craving, but don’t eliminate stressors and don’t replace craving with more adaptive coping mechanisms, it will eventually come back.”