Now, research describes a new and more efficient deep brain stimulation paradigm which makes realtime changes in response to disease dynamics and progression and could be superior for managing symptoms of advanced Parkinson’s disease.
Deep brain stimulation entails implantation of a medical device that performs as a “brain pacemaker.” Basically, this gadget delivers electrical impulses to certain parts of the brain and changes brain activity in these parts in a controlled way. While the basic principles aren’t completely clear, deep brain stimulation has given important therapeutic benefits for movement conditions like Parkinson’s as well as for affective conditions such as chronic pain and depression.
Following implantation with the deep brain stimulation device, stimulation variables, like frequency and intensity of stimulation, have to be programmed and adjusted over a few months by a skilled clinician. The aim will be to increase clinical improvement and reduce stimulation caused side effects. Adjustments usually occur every three to twelve months when the patient goes to the clinic, with all the parameters staying the same in between visits. Unfortunately, this leads to stimulation that doesn’t keep up with the dynamics of Parkinson’s.
Recently, the role of Parkinson’s disease influenced aberrant discharge patterns of neuronal activity have surfaced as vital in the pathophysiology of the disease, and there’s an immediate need for an automatic and dynamic method that can constantly modify the stimulus in response to continuous pathological changes. The researchers tested a number of new paradigms for real time adaptive deep brain stimulation in a primate model of Parkinson’s disease, where the delivered stimulus was brought on by the constant brain activity.
The study found that real time adaptive deep brain stimulation paradigms relieved Parkinson’s disease motor symptoms and lowered abnormal neural activity better than standard deep brain stimulation. The outcomes offered new understanding of brain activity underlying Parkinson’s pathology and suggested that clinical improvement was accomplished by disruption of a specific pattern in the variety of abnormal activity found in the Parkinsonian brain.
Reference for: Superior Deep Brain Stimulation Could Improve Parkinson’s Treatment
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