Neuroaugmentation

Often sufferers of debilitating spinal injuries, strokes, and even cancer experience pain for which there is no easy remedy. The pain arises either from a nervous anomaly, or from damage that cannot be fixed. In these cases, the pain is useless, though it often makes life miserable for those affected. Neuroaugmentation is a type of treatment that is reserved for patients who have tried alternative styles of pain management such as the use of analgesics.

The technique relies on the natural mechanism of the body for pain relief. Substances naturally produced by the brain called Beta Endorphins act on the Periventricular and Periacqueductal areas to mediate pain. Neuroaugmentation takes advantage of this system, by attempting to implant tiny electrodes that stimulate those areas. The electric stimulation is administered through the electrode with the aid of a batter usually under the skin.

Various studies have shown that Neuroaugmentation while not completely erasing all pain, either leads to significant decrease in the number of analgesics taken, or increase their effectiveness. By far, the major road block to the procedure is that the body develops some sort of resistance to the effects of the stimulation. This leads to the effect of the electric impulse getting diminished over a period of time. This can be managed with the use of certain drugs as well as teaching the patient not to use the stimulation continuously