People suffering from severe anorexia could be treated with a brain "pacemaker", doctors report today.
Several women in Canada have successfully been given the treatment, which involves electrical stimulation deep in the brain.
The procedure has been tried on six women, one of whom had suffered from the problem for 37 years.
Doctors found that nine months after treatment, three women continued to carry more weight than before the operation. There was also evidence of improvements in mood and reductions in obsessive compulsive behaviour.
The findings were reported in The Lancet today.
Neurosurgeon Dr Andres Lozano, of the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto, Canada, said he believed the findings showed a genuine effect from the procedure, not just the women making an effort because of having treatment.
He said: "The finding of improvements in mood and anxiety in patients who were still underweight is especially striking, in view of the well known poor response of underweight patients to conventional pharmacotherapies or psychotherapies."
Writing in the journal Professor Janet Treasure and Professor Ulrike Schmidt of King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, UK, say the results are "promising."
They say: "New effective treatments for these patients are sorely needed. The findings of this proof-of-concept study are promising and will give hope to patients with especially pernicious forms of the disorder and their families.
"The fact that the procedure was associated in some patients with improvements in affective and obsessional symptoms is of key importance."
Patient Kim Rollins, of Kitchener, Ontario, said: "It’s taken me from certain death. My mum has told me she was planning my funeral. Now I’m thinking of the future, I’m just thinking of living my life."
Lancet 7 March 2013 [abstract]
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