FRIDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Deep brain stimulation of an obese patient in an attempt to control appetite can evoke memories and improve some memory functions, according to a case report published online Jan. 29 in the Annals of Neurology.
Clement Hamani, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues from the University of Toronto in Canada describe the case of a 50-year-old morbidly obese patient who had failed multiple treatments and was treated with bilateral hypothalamic deep brain stimulation for possible appetite control.
The researchers found that low stimulation intensities evoked autobiographical memories. He felt about 20 years old and saw himself as an observer of a scene in a park with friends, in color, containing his then-girlfriend. Associative memory tasks showed that stimulation increased recollection but not familiarity-based recognition. Mapping of activated brain regions showed that the stimulation increased activity in ipsilateral mesial temporal lobe structures, mainly the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus region.
"This shows that hypothalamic stimulation in this subject modulates limbic activity and improves certain memory functions," Hamani and colleagues conclude.
Abstract
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