Rheumatoid arthritis kept her captive. This nerve stimulator set her free.

"For more than four years, Lynn Milam's life was bound by the pain that radiated from her swollen joints. "My children could not hug me," she says. "I couldn't hold my husband's hand." Milam also couldn't climb stairs or help raise her teenage son. She spent most days on the couch. The reason was rheumatoid arthritis, which occurs when the immune system starts attacking the lining of joints."

"That changed in October of 2023, when a surgeon implanted an experimental device in Milam's neck. For a minute each morning, it delivers pulses of electricity to her vagus nerve, which connects the brain with internal organs. "Three weeks in, my elbow pain was completely gone," she says. "Then my hands didn't hurt anymore, the swelling started going away." Eventually, all symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis had vanished."

"And now, the device will be available to many other people like Milam. In July, the Food and Drug Administration approved the device, made by SetPoint Medical, for people with rheumatoid arthritis whose symptoms aren't adequately controlled by drugs. On Aug. 22, surgeons at Northwell Health in New York implanted the first approved device in a patient. The FDA approval could be a turning point for the treatment of not only rheumatoid arthritis, but other autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease."

Rheumatoid arthritis results when the immune system attacks joint linings, causing pain, swelling, and disability. A patient who failed physical therapy, acupuncture, steroids, and immune drugs received an implanted device that delivers one minute of daily electrical pulses to the vagus nerve. Symptoms diminished within weeks and eventually disappeared, restoring mobility and daily life. The FDA approved SetPoint Medical's device in July for patients whose symptoms are not adequately controlled by drugs, and the first approved implantation occurred on Aug. 22 at Northwell Health. Vagus nerve stimulation signals the hypothalamus and engages anti-inflammatory pathways, with potential for other autoimmune diseases.

Read at www.npr.org