Her Brain Was Broken. It Was Fixed With Sound—Not a Scalpel
One woman’s meth addiction was so bad, the only option left might have been brain surgery. Then a single session of noninvasive, focused ultrasound seemed to do what years of treatment could not.
Erin's battle with substance use began during her high school years, starting with alcohol, marijuana, and ultimately heroin. Her brother was also a user, which likely contributed to her struggles. Linda, Erin's mother, became aware of the substance abuse and enrolled Erin in a methadone clinic three hours away in Massachusetts.
While the methadone helped, it left Erin feeling constantly fatigued, leading her to resort to cocaine to stay awake. Periods of sobriety were interspersed with multiple overdoses and failed rehab attempts. Erin eventually switched to Suboxone to stop using heroin, but when a friend introduced her to meth, she spiraled out of control.
One day, Linda was watching television and stumbled upon a 60 Minutes segment about a groundbreaking procedure that might help people struggling with substance use disorders. Intrigued, Linda contacted the researchers at West Virginia University, who were testing the technique on both Alzheimer's patients and those with addiction.
The procedure, known as focused ultrasound, involved beaming ultrasound waves through the skull to target specific brain regions without invasive surgery. This approach offered several advantages over traditional deep brain stimulation, which required drilling into the skull and implanting electrodes. Focused ultrasound could be delivered in just 20 minutes, with patients able to return home the same day.
Linda knew this was the answer she had been searching for and immediately made arrangements to bring Erin to West Virginia for the trial.
Written by urgent.news from Wired's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
