Hi-tech research is happening at the University of Texas at Arlington that could play a big role in curbing the opioid crisis.
Scientists are working on a device that can ease chronic pain using electric brain stimulation.
The form of medical technology is being engineered by the team of professor J.C. Chiao. For more than a decade, they've been hard at work creating a wireless implant that creates electrical stimulation of a deep, middle-brain structure, blocking pain signals at the spinal cord level without drug intervention.
According to Chiao, the patented custom-designed wireless device is implanted in the ventral tegmental area of the brain.
The device communicates with a wireless recorder worn on the patient's body in a process Chiao calls "digitizing pain."
"You can only verbally communicate with your doctor how much pain you have, but in this case, because a computer receive the digital transmittance, we can actually show in electronic form how much pain you have," Chiao said. "That implant is going to deliver a very weak electrical signal to the neuron. That signal can inhibit or reduce the pain signal that you perceive."
"Because it's wireless, you do not need to walk around with all the wires around your body," he added.
The patient can also monitor the pain management on smartphone software Chiao and his team created.
"Your portable phone will continuously monitor how much pain you have right now and optimize the reduction of the pain signal," Chiao said.
Similar technology is already being used on patients with Parkinson's disease to help control their tremors.
Years of study are still needed to make sure the implant won't cause tissue damage or scarring.
He believes it will take about five to 10 years for the technology to become available to the public.
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