Has MUMC+ found a way to cope with tinnitus?
It is still appears to be somewhat of a mystery in the conventional medical world, where does ringing in the ears – or oorsuizen (tinnitus) come from? But more importantly, how can you cope with it? A research team at Maastricht UMC+ is working on that question.
The research now shows the first signs of a working treatment.
And that treatment works in the form of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), or stimulation deep inside the brain. The researchers placed electrodes deep inside the brain in 1 man that deliver constant pulses of electricity to the brain.
A year after the treatment, in which the electrodes were placed in this 1 patient's brain, the results have been positive. "In this first patient at least, we saw that the symptoms were reduced 1 year after the operation and there were no unwanted side effects due to the treatment yet."
Researcher Jana Devos does not want to call it a stunning discovery just yet: "Although it is very interesting," she explains. Devos finds that it more important that the operation is safe: "That no crazy things happened before, after or during the operation and that there are few side effects from the current."
The question now is when this new technique can be made available to the general public. According to the researcher, it is still too early for that. More operations of this kind need to be performed first: "We hope to have several results from patients in a year's time, then we will evaluate whether it is effective and safe enough to test in a larger group," Devos explains.
People who suffer from tinnitus can no longer apply for the study.
