Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jun 2005
Source: China Daily (China)
Contact:   http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/911
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DOCTOR EAGER TO DO BRAIN SURGERY TO RID DRUG ADDICTION

Dr Wang Guisong is eagerly awaiting the chance to perform brain surgery on 
drug addicts - a practice the Ministry of Health banned last October, but 
is expected to allow in the future under tight guidelines.

Wang, who works in the neurosurgery department at Renji Hospital, is one of 
the leading experts on the surgery in Shanghai.

"Using medicine alone can solve physical addiction, but it is unable to 
solve the mental addiction," he said. "Brain surgery is really the last 
resort for drug addicts and their families. Many broke and distraught 
parents have come to me for help for their addicted children."

Wang said the brain surgery is not a new technique, but it has only been 
used in a few countries to treat drug addiction. The method has been used 
around the world on people with Parkinson's disease, brain tumors and epilepsy.

Several European countries started to perform the surgery on drug addicts 
in the late 1970s and it became popular in Russia in the 1990s. The surgery 
was first performed on humans in China in 2000, after testing on animals.

Hospitals in Shaanxi and Guangdong provinces were the first to use the 
technique.

"We started to do the surgery last year and performed 28 operations. 
Twenty-three patients kicked drug completely," Wang said. "The rest didn't 
break their addictions, since they went back to their drug friends."

Wang said narcotics affect certain brain tissues, creating a feeling of 
euphoria, which can lead to addiction. Destroying a small area of specific 
brain tissues can break the addiction.

"It is a minimally invasive surgery. Doctors open two small holes in the 
skull and use two electrodes to destroy the relative tissues," he said. 
"The most difficult step is to locate the tissues, which is slightly 
different in different people. It is found through magnetic resonance 
imaging before the surgery."

While Wang wants to start performing the surgery again, he says he 
supported the ministry's decision to ban the procedure while setting 
regulations on how it can be performed.

"Some hospitals performed the surgery incorrectly or didn't have enough 
qualified doctors," Wang said.

He said the ministry is expected to discuss the surgery with doctors in 
October, and then announce regulations on how it can be performed.
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