A new approach to rheumatoid arthritis: treating inflammation with computerized nerve stimulation.

Doctors currently treat rheumatoid arthritis, a crippling autoimmune disease, with an arsenal of drugs that, while often effective, can have serious side effects. Authors Ulf Andersson and Kevin J. Tracey describe a circuit between the immune system and the nervous system that enabled development of an implanted nerve stimulator to treat the disorder, now being tested by a patient in Bosnia. If further clinical trials show as much promise as this initial case, similar devices may be developed for a broad range of inflammation-related diseases, from diabetes to congestive heart failure.