Dental vision

British doctors are coming up with a new way to control drug and smoking addiction. They are testing a device that is implanted in the brain of alcoholics and opioid addicts to normalize neural signals linked to cravings for liquor and drugs.

The clinical trials for the Brain-Pacer, which works like a heart pacemaker, will be conducted at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and King’s College Hospital in London, The Guardian reports.

The Brain-Pacer’s electrodes are connected to a pulse generator implanted in the chest. The device delivers electrical impulses that moderate neural activity that triggers addiction, according to The Guardian.

“It will be a major leap forward if we can show efficacy in this very difficult disease that is a huge burden to the patients and society,” The Guardian quoted Keyoumars Ashkan, professor of neurosurgery at King’s College Hospital and lead surgeon for the study, as saying.

Meanwhile, a blind Canadian is expected to regain his sight after undergoing a rare operation at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver on 25 February.

Brent Chapman is among three blind patients that underwent Osteo-Odonto Keratoprostheseis (OOKP) performed by Australian ophthalmologist, Dr. Greg Moloney.

Chapman, 33, lost his sight at 13 after suffering a rare auto-immune reaction known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome, CBC reports. He had undergone 50 operations in the last 20 years, including one that restored his sight but for only two years, and is hoping that OOKP will give him life-long vision.

The procedure consists of two operations that are done three months apart. The first part is extracting the patient’s tooth, boring it, fitting a small lens into the hole, covering it with tissue and implanting the improvised lens casing under the cheek to grow tissue around it.

The second stage of the tooth-in-eye surgery extracts the tooth with a lens after three months and implanting it in front of the patient’s eye.

The result is a pink-colored eye with a small black circle, through which the patient can see, according to CBC.