Ability of the Brain to Heal

After falling over a guard rail a man woke from a coma after 19 years. By use of some of the latest imaging technology doctors have come up with a reason why they think this happened. They think the brain has the ability to heal its self. This is of coarse a very slow process. The doctors say the mans brain has been seeking out and established new pathways to reestablish functional connections.



It is a good thing that the mans brain had healed enough for him to wake, but his motor skills have not fully recovered. I has always been said that the brain is a very amazing thing. I remember people saying in the past that we only use ten percent of our brains capability. Perhaps this is an example of what the other ninety percent of the brain can do.
If we learn just how the brain heals its self, just what will with do with that knowledge?

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[edit on 4-7-2006 by UM_Gazz]

The doctors also made a public statement saying that this man was semi-concious for the entire period, and that people in a constant vegetative state would never heal like that. They also said that the man's progression and development is unlikely to be linked to anything more than chance, as 99% of people in his situation will not recover as he did.

Mariella

Originally posted by bsl4doc
The doctors also made a public statement saying that this man was semi-concious for the entire period, and that people in a constant vegetative state would never heal like that. They also said that the man's progression and development is unlikely to be linked to anything more than chance, as 99% of people in his situation will not recover as he did.

Mariella

Yes I did read that also. But are you saying that you dont think that the brain has the capacity to heal as was described in the artical?

I read that too.
The guy was absolutly convinced that it was in the 1980's. Then his father
had to tell him the truth. It seemed as though all of his long term memory
was working. I wonder though if there are any gaps missing, im thinking there
was some damage to tissue and it had to regrow, in a sense format parts of
his hard drive (long term mem).
Amazing, what the brain can do.

Kinda funny in a sick sense, he has to learn about all this new technology that
we take for granted.

[edit on 5-7-2006 by imbalanced]

Originally posted by RedGolem

Originally posted by bsl4doc
The doctors also made a public statement saying that this man was semi-concious for the entire period, and that people in a constant vegetative state would never heal like that. They also said that the man's progression and development is unlikely to be linked to anything more than chance, as 99% of people in his situation will not recover as he did.

Mariella

Yes I did read that also. But are you saying that you dont think that the brain has the capacity to heal as was described in the artical?

That's exactly what I'm saying. Neural cells divide and grow at a rate so much slower than any other cell in your body that is is unlikely that any patient will recover like this man did. What happened to this man is akin to a miracle, and I cannot offer any real medical explanation other than he is lucky and there was some extenuating circumstance such as specific body chemistry or some other stimuli that caused this reaction.

Mariella

Originally posted by imbalanced
I read that too.
The guy was absolutly convinced that it was in the 1980's. Then his father
had to tell him the truth. It seemed as though all of his long term memory
was working. I wonder though if there are any gaps missing, im thinking there
was some damage to tissue and it had to regrow, in a sense format parts of
his hard drive (long term mem).
Amazing, what the brain can do.

Kinda funny in a sick sense, he has to learn about all this new technology that
we take for granted.

[edit on 5-7-2006 by imbalanced]

That parts of his brain had to re grow or make some new conections is what the artical said they thought happened to him. It is nice to think that can happen but from what most people are saying this man is the exception to the rule.

I didnt know that about neruons, I thought they change and split and new ones grow all the time. Thanks for that tidbit, I guess its advantages to have an MD...Hmmmmm ?
But I bet you couldnt install a cracked copy of windows could ya...HA !

Mariella,
Ok thanks for the info. I guess we will half to look at this as a miracle. I am happy that the man is awake if it was a miracle or not. But I would also like to hope that the brain also has some healing ability.

Originally posted by RedGolem
Mariella,
Ok thanks for the info. I guess we will half to look at this as a miracle. I am happy that the man is awake if it was a miracle or not. But I would also like to hope that the brain also has some healing ability.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I am elated anytime someone, whether my own patient or a patient across the globe, recovers from almost certain death/vegetative state. Also, the main thrust of much of the stem cell research is in regards to healing neural tissue, though mostly in the spinal cord. Hopefully, a few years down the road we will be able to stimulate cell growth and development in the CNS through stem cell therapy.

Mariella

I saw this story in the newspaper this morning. Good news for once... usually the paper is just full of people dying in the mideast or something sad like that. It's definitely a medical fluke; most people will never recover like this man luckily did. Hopefully they can study what happened to him, and reproduce it in other brain-damaged patients.

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne
I saw this story in the newspaper this morning. Good news for once... usually the paper is just full of people dying in the mideast or something sad like that. It's definitely a medical fluke; most people will never recover like this man luckily did. Hopefully they can study what happened to him, and reproduce it in other brain-damaged patients.

Dragons,
The artical did say that the latest imageing technology is what helped the doctors derive the idea as to what helped him come out of the coma. And perhaps with the research being done now they will come up with more cures for brain damage.

Originally posted by bsl4doc

Originally posted by RedGolem
Mariella,
Ok thanks for the info. I guess we will half to look at this as a miracle. I am happy that the man is awake if it was a miracle or not. But I would also like to hope that the brain also has some healing ability.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I am elated anytime someone, whether my own patient or a patient across the globe, recovers from almost certain death/vegetative state. Also, the main thrust of much of the stem cell research is in regards to healing neural tissue, though mostly in the spinal cord. Hopefully, a few years down the road we will be able to stimulate cell growth and development in the CNS through stem cell therapy.

Mariella

I hope for the same thing also Mariella.
You are in on all of these new and wonderfull hapenings. Maby some day you will be able to tell all of us how the brain works and heals.