Reporter: Peter Overton
Producer: Hugh Nailon
You're about to witness a miracle, revealing a secret locked away in our brains.
Astonishing surgery that's transformed lives forever, changed human wrecks into happy human beings.
They call it deep brain stimulation and it really has to be seen to be believed.
It's an intricate operation, performed while the patient is actually conscious, guiding the surgeon on his way.
Breathtaking stuff that's already been successful for patients with Parkinson's disease, Tourette's Syndrome and even depression.
As Peter Overton reports, it can be risky but it's a risk the unfortunate victims are only too willing to take.
Special features:
BLOG: Pter Overton witnesses what can only be described as a surgical miracle
Additional contacts:
Dr Richard Bittar
Precision Neurosurgery
www.precisionneurosurgery.com.au
For all appointments please phone:
+61 3 9821 5718 or 1300 787 267
Precision Neurosurgery
Suite 5, 4th Floor
517 St Kilda Road
Melbourne VIC 3004
AUSTRALIA
Full transcript
INTRODUCTION - LIAM BARTLETT You're about to witness a miracle, revealing a secret locked away in our brains. Astonishing surgery that has transformed lives forever, changed human wrecks into happy human beings. They call it deep brain stimulation and it really has to be seen to be believed. It's an intricate operation, performed while the patient is actually conscious, guiding the surgeon on his way. Breathtaking stuff that's already been successful for patients with Parkinson's disease, Tourette's Syndrome and even depression. As Peter Overton reports, it can be risky but it's a risk the unfortunate victims are only too willing to take.
STORY - PETER OVERTON: This is how Jeff Matovic lived his life. Trapped in a body he could not control.
PETER OVERTON: Jeff suffers Tourette syndrome, and for 30 years a damaged signal in his brain caused his body to jerk violently, like this - 800,000 times a day. But a radical new form of brain surgery has transformed Jeff's life and given him back control.
JEFF MATOVIC: It's a sunny day in Cleveland, and it flows right off my lips. When you are constantly moving and ticking and you can't sleep. And there's so much going on and your brain feels like it's being thrown around in a boxing match. And then all of a sudden you're switched to a different world of sensation and perception - it's a wonderful world to be in. I love this place.
PETER OVERTON: Welcome.
JEFF MATOVIC: Thank you. I take it any day.
PETER OVERTON: For Australians like Graham Millar, Jeff Matovic's story offers precious hope.
GRAHAM MILLAR: Glass of water, that I would normally pick it up in my right hand - and as you can see, it's a bit of a battle.
PETER OVERTON: Graham suffers essential tremor, a neurological condition like Tourette's. He and his wife Margaret have lived with this shaking for 10 years, and it's getting worse. Before it disables him completely, he is prepared to risk this radical surgery called deep brain stimulation. You can't live like this any more?
GRAHAM MILLAR: I don't want to live like this any more. I won't say, I can't live like this any more, I don't want to live like this any more. I want to be better than I am.
PETER OVERTON: You want your life back?
GRAHAM MILLAR: I do. I want my life back.
PETER OVERTON: Margaret, when you see Graham shake, does part of you want to reach out and help him?
MARGARET MILLAR: Yes, I want to put my arms around him and really stop it. Stop the shaking.
PETER OVERTON: Make him safe?
MARGARET MILLAR: Yes, that is what I would like to do but... can't do it.
RICHARD BITTAR: Graham, how are you there?
PETER OVERTON: This is Graham's last resort.
RICHARD BITTAR: How bad is the tremor in your right hand, can you show us? Just hold it up there for us. We'll do the left side of the brain first because that controls the right hand, OK?
PETER OVERTON: Delicate and dangerous surgery...
RICHARD BITTAR: Tell me whether you can feel anything, Graham.
PETER OVERTON: ..in which Surgeon Richard Bittar bores two holes into Graham's skull to target the tiny pocket of cells causing the tremor.
RICHARD BITTAR: Not hurting too much?
GRAHAM MILLAR: No, not hurting...
PETER OVERTON: There is a 10% chance of either stroke or paralysis. Even death. And incredibly, Graham is awake for every second of it.
RICHARD BITTAR: How are you feeling there, Graham?
GRAHAM MILLAR: Pretty good.
PETER OVERTON: Deep Brain Stimulation is a new frontier in medicine offering huge potential to people with neurological disorders. And this is the key - a tiny electrode. Using this, doctors can pinpoint the exact part of the brain that's on the blink. It has been successful with Parkinson's disease but for millions of people suffering other movement disorders, trapped in a body they cannot control, deep brain stimulation could one day set them free. Jeff Matovic was the pioneer for deep brain stimulation, the first to undergo this amazing surgery for Tourette's and its greatest success story. Jeff's transformation stunned the world. Deep brain stimulation had only been used successfully to treat Parkinson's disease. Remarkably, it was Jeff himself who truly believed it could help his Tourette's.
JEFF MATOVIC: I made over 2,000 phone calls. I spent time researching the Internet. I called people I didn't even know looking for answers. I was angry, I wanted an answer - I wanted to find my silver bullet but I couldn't.
PETER OVERTON: Jeff was turned away by doctors from all over the US. They said there was nothing more they could do but he was having none of that. So he turned up here, at the University Hospitals at Cleveland, where he pleaded with doctors to perform ground-breaking brain surgery, Jeff would be the guinea pig.
JEFF MATOVIC: I said, "Dr Maciunas, this needs to be done, "I am at my end - "this is a body that you are seeing that is out of control."
PETER OVERTON: So here you are telling one of the country's most eminent brain surgeons that he should do an operation on you that he's never been done before?
JEFF MATOVIC: Correct. And he looked at me like, "Who are you?"
DR MACIUNAS: In North America, there was really no experience with this, we were clearly going out on a limb in order to help this one person.
PETER OVERTON: Professor Robert Maciunas took that chance. This is how it works. Two electrodes were inserted into the part of Jeff's brain causing his Tourette's. They are connected to a battery in the chest, it's like a pacemaker for the brain. The electrical pulses neutralise the faulty brain signal, but they must be in exactly the right place in order to stop the tics.
PETER OVERTON: It's almost like a fishing expedition. You've got to get the line and the bait in exactly the right spot.
DR MACIUNAS: Yes, and you have to be in exactly the right place or the entire expedition is without value.
PETER OVERTON: And if you are in the right place? The catch...
DR MACIUNAS: ..is magical.
PETER OVERTON: And so it was for Jeff. Switch the batteries on, and for the first time since he was a young boy, he is completely still.
JEFF MATOVIC: I think if anything it is going to feel a little foreign for awhile. It was finally the slaying of the dragon, it was the final stab of the sword in the demon that possessed this wretched body for so long.
PETER OVERTON: Back in Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, Graham Millar is hoping for his own miracle. I think what staggers me is that Graham is awake in the theatre in his brace, and he'll be working with you, won't he?
RICHARD BITTAR: He is critical part of this whole process.
PETER OVERTON: So it could be like, "Yes, that's the right spot, that's the right spot."?
RICHARD BITTAR: And he'll know, he'll know if we hit the right spot, he should be able to tell us. How are you feeling there, Graham?
GRAHAM MILLAR: Pretty good.
PETER OVERTON: As it has for the last 10 years, Graham's hand has been shaking throughout the surgery.
RICHARD BITTAR: We know that we are in the right area. We want to make sure that we get the best spot so that we can put the wire in that position.
PETER OVERTON: But now, the moment has come - Dr Bittar has located the trouble spot and is about to hit it with an electric current. It's stationary now.
RICHARD BITTAR: Yes, that's right.
PETER OVERTON: That's wonderful.
RICHARD BITTAR: The tremor has stopped. You can tell the difference can't you, Graham?
GRAHAM MILLAR: Certainly can.
PETER OVERTON: Do you marvel at this?
DR MACIUNAS: Absolutely, It's breathtaking. It's breathtaking to observe it in individual patients. And then to get the privilege of watching them without that horrible movement disorder. It's inexpressible.
PETER OVERTON: Jeff Matovic's trail-blazing surgery has paved the way for other Tourette sufferers around the world. James Michael Veazey's life was changed the day he saw Jeff's story on television.
JAMES MICHAEL VEAZEY: I walked in from school and Mum said, "I want to show you something." She showed me a video clip of Jeff Matovic.
JILL VEAZEY: As soon as it was over he looked at me and he said, "Mum, can they do that for me?" And I said, "Would you want it?" And he said, "Yes, can you imagine me being normal? And it wasn't until he said that that I realised that he didn't feel normal.
PETER OVERTON: As a young child, James Michael had been a normal boy, the pride of parents James and Jill. But from the age of seven the tics started, and normal life was over.
JAMES MICHAEL VEAZEY: I couldn't sleep so I tried to lay down in bed at 8:30 at night and I wouldn't sleep until midnight, 1:00am, because I would just be ticking so bad.
PETER OVERTON: But after deep brain stimulation - complete transformation. James Michael is now an apprentice electrician. A confident and popular young man.
JAMES MICHAEL VEAZEY: I have no problems, you know, going to a club, or going just out anywhere, I don't have any problems doing that no more 'cause I'm not worried other people are looking at me in a bad way. I am actually more wondering if they are looking at me in a good way now.
PETER OVERTON: You can smile?
JAMES MICHAEL VEAZEY: Yes, I can smile now.
PETER OVERTON: Back in Melbourne, battered and bruised Graham Millar is recovering from more than six hours in surgery.
MARGARET MILLAR: My word, you're looking good! Yes, you are looking very good. How do you feel?
GRAHAM MILLAR: Pretty good.
PETER OVERTON: Graham now has electrodes in his brain and the pacemaker in his chest. It worked on the operating table, will it work now? Using a simple remote control, his pacemaker is switched on for the first time.
RICHARD BITTAR. Ok, so that is turning it up. Can you feel that? See how the tremor goes? Ok, now take a sip. Good.
PETER OVERTON: Graham, what is it like to be still?
GRAHAM MILLAR: Well, it's amazing really.
PETER OVERTON: When I first met you, you'd hold your glass was like that. Look at it now.
GRAHAM MILLAR: Yes.
PETER OVERTON: It's like magic, isn't it?
GRAHAM MILLAR: It is. It is, Peter.
PETER OVERTON: Margaret, you wanted your husband back - MARGARET MILLAR: Oh, yes.
PETER OVERTON: How do you feel seeing this stillness?
MARGARET MILLAR: I think it's wonderful and amazing and we're very, very grateful. I'll be able to get a cup of tea in the cup, and not in the saucer, again. Which will be lovely.
PETER OVERTON: Deep brain stimulation has given these men their lives back. It's not a cure - the electrodes must stay in place for good. But doctors believe this remarkable surgery may one day treat depression, obesity, even Alzheimer's. For Graham and Margaret Miller, it has already done its job, helping them get back to the simple things in life.
MARGARET MILLAR: Mmm, thank you.
