If the effects of the device can also be applied to diabetes and asthma, then the medical textbooks will have to be re-written.
Many diseases, such as diabetes and asthma, are poorly controlled by modern drug treatment, but they could be cured by devices that hack into the nervous system, and send a code of electronic impulses to change the activity of the body's vital organs.The vagus nerve is key to the technology.
It carries subconscious signals from the brain to control the 'automatic' functions of vital organs, such as the heartbeat, breathing, and digestion.
It also relays 'status updates' from the body back to the brain.
Pioneers of the technology believe smart devices could eavesdrop on the messages, detect abnormal signals and intervene with a burst of artificial impulses.
For example, the airways of someone with asthma send signals through the nerve warning the brain that they have detected a dust-mite allergen.
The brain would reply with an instruction to constrict the breathing tubes, potentially causing an asthma attack.
But in future an implant could detect the first alarm call from the lungs and then drown out the brain's over-reaction, before a sufferer is even aware of a problem.
Inhalers could be redundant.
There are challenges that still need to be overcome.
The vagus nerve is composed of 100,000 fibres as it runs down the side of the neck.
Readouts show a mass of signals, far too complex to decipher for now.
But the researchers are optimistic that in time they will be able to spot abnormal impulses.
The brain would reply with an instruction to constrict the breathing tubes, potentially causing an asthma attack.
But in future an implant could detect the first alarm call from the lungs and then drown out the brain's over-reaction, before a sufferer is even aware of a problem.
Inhalers could be redundant.
There are challenges that still need to be overcome.
The vagus nerve is composed of 100,000 fibres as it runs down the side of the neck.
Readouts show a mass of signals, far too complex to decipher for now.
But the researchers are optimistic that in time they will be able to spot abnormal impulses.
Read more at:http://news.sky.com/story/1396488/bio-electronics-tipped-to-transform-medicine
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