September 2001
Brain Pacemakers
Hearts have long been regulated by electronic implants. Now it's the brain's turn.
By Stephen S. Hall
It had been more than six hours since Joan Sikkema first laid her shaven head on the operating table, six hours since a 14-millimeter hole was drilled in her skull and a thin electrode inserted deep inside her brain. Now, swaddled in blankets in the cold operating room and wide awake, Joan (pronounced joe-ann) looked up at half a dozen physicians in surgical gowns, all of whom seemed to be shouting orders at her simultaneously.
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