“Are you ready to give it a try?” asks Dr. Adam Sachs, a neuroscientist at the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute and a neurosurgeon at The Ottawa Hospital.
The patient is one of 100,000 Canadians and 10 million people worldwide who have Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder that affects the brain networks involved in coordinating our movements.
The patient is half-way through an eight-hour surgical procedure known as deep brain stimulation, an operation that Dr. Sachs has been performing in Ottawa for two years. It involves implanting an electrode in the brain that will deliver electrical pulses to help control tremors and other symptoms. For many patients, it helps relieve symptoms that do not respond to medication. But it’s not a cure, and over time, it can become less effective.
That’s why Dr. Sachs will take 30 minutes in the middle of the operation to explore a new frontier in neuroscience. In the 3D goggles, the patient sees a blue sphere – and will be asked to transform it using only his mind.
“Try and use your thoughts to see if you can get it to change colour,” instructs post-doctoral fellow Dr. Chadwick Boulay. “Some people think about fluid movement, like moving their arm, but you can try whatever you like to see what works for you.”
A large computer screen shows the team what the patient is seeing in the goggles, as well as a read-out of his brain activity. Remarkably, at times the patient is able to use his thoughts to make the sphere change colour.
