I was taking 130 painkillers a day until a 20-minute noninvasive procedure cured my dependence
A man taking more than 100 painkillers a day was cured of his dependence with a first-of-its-kind 20-minute procedure.
The anonymous patient, who is in his 40s and identified only as ‘H,’ suffered a neck injury several years ago, which led doctors to prescribe him opioid pain medication.
While the pain gradually dissipated, he had become dependent on the medication, eventually taking 130 pills every day just to get by.
Opioid medications bind to receptors in the brain that not only block pain signals but trigger a massive release of dopamine, a ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter that teaches the brain to associate the drug with pleasure.
This is why opioid pain medications like hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine are highly addictive, with crippling dependence affecting 6 million Americans.
While H, who lives in Israel, was no longer in physical pain, his body had become so accustomed to the pills that without them, he would be at risk of severe withdrawal symptoms like sweating, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and extreme restlessness.
Doctors at Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel gave H an experimental treatment using sound waves that measured activity in a region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens (NAc), part of the reward and motivation system where opioids bind and dopamine is released.
The sound waves, which are noninvasive and don’t involve surgery, allowed doctors to dampen opioid receptors and reduce H’s desire for opioids.
The anonymous patient, who is in his 40s and identified only as ‘H,’ (pictured above) suffered a neck injury several years ago, which led doctors to prescribe him opioid pain medication
During the 20-minute treatment, H immediately reported a reduction in cravings, and one week later, urine drug tests showed he had no opioids or other substances in his system. H told doctors he had a craving score of zero out of ten.
Additionally, he had begun smoking less, going from three packs a day to just a handful of cigarettes. He also had no desire to drink alcohol.
Doctors treating H believe the in-development therapy could be used to help treat opioid dependence around the world without detox programs and invasive procedures.
‘This is a new therapeutic platform that allows us to offer a range of noninvasive treatments for many problems affecting people around the world,’ Dr Lior Lev-Tov, lead investigator and head of the Functional Neurosurgery Unit at Rambam Health Care Campus, said.
‘This is a major scientific breakthrough that could have far-reaching implications and reshape the way we approach treatment.’
H was part of a 22-person study from Lev-Tov’s team testing the treatment at a small number of medical centers in the US and Israel. H was the first participant to undergo the treatment while in active withdrawal.
The researchers used sound waves delivered in an MRI-like machine to perform neuromodulation, which alters or regulates nerve activity deep within the brain. It has been compared to a pacemaker in the heart, which sends mild electrical signals to the heart to maintain a normal beat.
Doctors at Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel (pictured above) gave H an experimental treatment using sound waves that measured activity in a region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens (NAc), part of the reward and motivation system where opioids bind and dopamine is released
More invasive forms of neuromodulation, such as deep brain stimulation – which involves surgically implanting electrodes in certain areas of the brain – have been used for conditions like Parkinson’s disease, disrupting faulty nerve signals to reduce tremors and stiffness.
For H, researchers targeted his nucleus accumbens (NAc), a brain structure that releases dopamine in response to opioids in addiction, without heating or damaging surrounding tissue.
H had no negative side effects or complications from the treatment.
‘In a treatment that took about 20 minutes, our patient was able to detox from an extreme dependence that had been part of his daily life for years,’ Lev-Tov said.
‘This is nothing less than a medical and therapeutic revolution.’
Two weeks after the treatment, H has remained cleaned from opioids, telling his doctors that he now had his life back.
The experts at Rambam also noted that study patients in the US have reported a decrease in cravings for heroin, a process that can take years.
‘We hope this new development will be able to help many thousands of people dependent on opioids, in a safe and less traumatic way,’ Dr Amir Minerbi, director of Rambam’s Institute for Pain Medicine, said.
