Coimbatore: A city hospital has performed deep brain stimulation to treat alcohol addiction. The procedure involves inserting a small electrode connected to a pace maker into a deep part of the brain called nucleus accumbence. Doctors at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital who performed the surgery three weeks ago say the patient, a severe alcoholic, is recovering well and has not requested for a sip of alcohol since.The patient, a businessman from Sathyamangalam, first came to the hospital five years ago for alcohol de-addiction treatment. "We did a lot of counselling and even referred him to de-addiction programmes at Kasturba Gandhi De-addiction Centre and TTK De-addiction Centre in Chennai. He was also put on medicines like anti-booze, but he kept relapsing," said KMCH psychiatrist Dr Saravanan, who was treating the patient from 2013. In 2017, his family again approached doctors at KMCH when his hands developed shivering, had uncontrolled movement of lips, memory loss and loss of sensation in the hands and legs. "Chronic and severe alcoholism can start damaging nerves, because it is a psychoactive substance that depresses the nervous system," said neurosurgeon Dr Arulselvan.That was when the hospital's neurosurgeons, who had been performing deep brain stimulation surgeries to treat Parkinson's disease and Dystonia, considered the same method to treat the patient's alcoholism."Deep brain stimulation to treat the above conditions is commonly performed across the country," said Dr Arulselvan.In the present case, the procedure included creating a small opening in the brain and an opening below the shoulder. "The three-hour procedure included placing a small 1 cm long electrode in the nucleus accumbence. The electrode is connected with a thin wire to the pacemaker which is placed beneath a patient's shoulder," said Dr S Arulselvan. "The pacemaker constantly sends electric signals to the electrode, which stimulates chemical secretion by the brain, especially serotonin which is responsible for giving the person a sense of well-being," he said.

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