A new treatment that uses ultrasound waves to target areas of the brain is showing promising results in suppressing addiction.
Doctors at West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute have been conducting an experiment that uses focused ultrasound waves to reset cells inside the nucleus accumbens, known as the brain’s reward center. The hope is that the treatment can help treat a range of addictions, from opioids to gambling.
Currently, most addiction treatment comes in the form of counseling or through medications that are meant to replace existing drugs, such as methadone, which is used to replace other opioids. Despite existing treatments, upwards of 60% of people with an addiction relapse after completing a recovery program.
The new experimental procedure leverages ultrasound waves to vibrate cell membranes deep within the brain. These waves disrupt existing connections that drive cravings.
Dr. Ali Rezai, a neurosurgeon and executive chair at the institute, says the procedure is like resetting a highway’s traffic patterns.
“There’s a lot of traffic going on between the addiction center of the brain and the rest of the brain. Over time, that traffic is gone… The addiction center isn’t in charge anymore,” says Rezai, per The Wall Street Journal.
By disrupting cravings, it is hoped patients will have an easier time managing their addiction. One individual who underwent the procedure, 39-year-old Joe Hilton, says it was like quieting a chattering room.
The latest experiment involved 30 patients. This is a follow-up to a previous 20-person trial that produced promising results, with some patients seeing their cravings nearly completely vanish. Roughly 75% of the first cohort were still substance-free several months after the trial was completed.
While the treatment is promising, it requires patient work.
“If you take away the craving, but you don’t remove the stressors and you don’t replace the craving with more adaptive coping mechanisms, eventually you’re going to revert back,” said clinical neuropsychologist at RNI, James Mahoney.
Hilton’s wife, Maggie Bracken, has witnessed a marked change in her husband’s behavior.
“Instead of getting frustrated and relapsing, he is more willing to talk it out and figure it out,” said Bracken.
“My drive to want drugs is damn near depleted… I never thought I’d say that in my life,” Hilton told the WSJ.