Brain Heatsink Could Reduce Epilepsy

SimonNight writes "Attaching a heatsink to the brain can reduce the severity of epileptic seizures, Japanese researchers say. They've developed a surgically implanted heat conduit that connects a brain region to a heatsink on the outside of the skull. Seizures get worse when they abnormal activity of brain cells overheats the brain and causes more abnormal firing patterns."

I wonder...

[torkus]

...if that means we can start overclocking our brains too.

I can't wait to see people walking around with heat sinks sticking out of their skull. Will they have designer ones? :)

Heatsink? More like a ground...

[Sleen]

I doubt the heatsink is contributing anything to the patients ability to regulate cranial temperature. More likely, its providing an electrical ground that helps alleviate the conditions that lead to a seizure.

What about making the brain too cold?

[Anonymous Coward]

Couldn't this be dangerous if the person was exposed to cold temperatures? Cool the brain down too much?

They tried that, it is called tv.

[SmallFurryCreature]

Apparently there is a fault in the design, you can't underclock it anymore without flatlining when you watch reality tv and still peoples brain heat up. Mostly from its fevered attempts to crawl out your ear hole.

But hey, think of it like this, with proper cooling we can really start poring in the juice and all be geniusses. It will be brilliant, we grow so intelligent cooling our brain and powering it up, we might suddenly realize how stupid that is.

Now that is irony, overclocking your brain to become smart enough to realize it is going to kill you.

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Re:Heatsink? More like a ground...

[ajlitt]

That makes perfect sense, since the salts in blood and cranial fluid are such excellent insulators.

Blood-Brain Barrier Breach?

[Zymergy]

How does this not open the brain cavity up to Serious Infections? Re: Meninges: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meninges [wikipedia.org] Aren't our brains "water cooled" (by blood) in the first place?

My Canine Experience

[Scot Seese]

Years ago our family had a Brittany Spaniel that started Grand Mal epileptic seizures at around 1 year of age. Phenobarbitol only moderately increase the time period between seizure clusters by a week or so.

  While comforting the dog immediately post-seizure one evening, I noticed that he felt warm - his entire body was overheated, as though he'd just come in from a long walk on a hot summer day. To me, the obvious thing to do was to crush 10-15 ice cubes, dump them in a ziploc bag and apply it to the crown of his head. The effect was immediate, and amazing. His anxiety and discomfort disappeared immediately, and the "brain chiller" icepack seemed to lessen the severity of any subsequent cluster seizures, and reduce the number of seizures in a cluster (to almost petit mal effect.)

  To me, this feels like another forehead smacking "well, DUH" discovery. ;]

What about fevers?

[SwordsmanLuke]

Correct me if I'm wrong (IANAD), but I understood that part of the problem with high fevers was that the heat eventually caused brain damage. I wonder if such a device would have a fever-lowering effect as well. Obviously, we're not going to start installing these in every kid with the flu, but I'm curious if this would work.