Cortical stimulator

Cortical stimulators help return the brain and nervous system to a normal, healthy state when a humanoid enters a coma or suffers other forms of serious neurological disturbance.

During treatment doctors place the unit on the patient's head. The stimulator's linear array of electromyonic sensors analyzes the current level of neural activity and compares this activity to the normal parameters for the patient's species. Using these readings the physician then activates the stimulator's network of phased muon projectors. Intersecting muon beams focus on individual neurons, stimulating them in patterns similar to normal brain activity. A sufficient level of neural stimulation usually results in the patient's other neurons adapting their firing to match this pattern, returning the patient to a normal state.

Doctors must carefully monitor the cortical stimulator or the patient could experience neural damage or seizures. In the hands of a skilled physician this device can even help cure complex neurological abnormalities like the Vulcan t'lokan schism or temporary insanity induced by drugs or stress. Doctors have occasionally used this device to reinforce normal neurological patterns to such a degree that noncorporeal beings inhabiting patients were expelled. On rare occasions when a patient's bioneural energy is temporarily displaced from the body, a cortical stimulator can keep the patient's body alive until this energy is returned.

Reference(s)

• Isaacs, Ross A., et al. Starfleet Academy Handbook, New York: Last Unicorn Games, 1999.