Sparking Recovery with Brain "Pacemakers"
From: Scientific American Mind - 12/2008
By: Morten L. Kringelbach and Tipu Z. Aziz

Applying electricity to the brain with deep-brain stimulation could ease
Parkinson's disease, pain, depression, and more 

Sudden, radical transformation is the hallmark of deep-brain stimulation. The
treatment, essentially a pacemaker for the brain, consists of a deceptively
simple two-part device. A surgeon threads one or two thin wires into
carefully selected locations deep within the brain, then inserts a small
battery just underneath the skin near the collarbone. Pulses of electricity
travel from the battery to four electrodes situated at the tip of each wire.
The effects are instantaneous, usually appearing while the patient is still
on the operating table - the quieting of a tremor, the ability to walk again
or, in some patients with otherwise treatment-resistant depression, a renewed
energy for life. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=sparking-recovery-with-brain-pacemakers