Today, the Telegraaf and Nu.nl report that a team of the Dutch rheumatologist Paul-Peter Tak of the Amsterdam Academic Medical Center will implant a kind of pacemaker, its size in the order of a bout a square centimeter, that will deliver stimuli to the vagus nerve for about one minute a day. By doing so, it is expected that inflammation of the joints of patients that suffer from rheumatoid arthritis can be reduced or even completely stopped.
Of course, what can be deduced from the article is that this pacemaker, electronics-wise, is nothing more than a simple blinking light with a timer, which can be implemented by means of a miniature microcontroller and a battery. However, it is also obvious that electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve, albeit at its infancy, is already very promising and a possible treatment of a wide range of neural disorders and pain is dawning at the horizon.
Wouter
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