2. Deep brain stimulation treats tremors and Parkinson’s
University of Washington researchers have developed a deep brain stimulation system that can treat the tremors associated with Parkinson’s with little uptime that saves batteries.
Electrodes on the top of the brain are able to sense movement from tremors and a deep brain electrode delivers stimulation as needed.
Patients in the study were implanted with Medtronic’s Active PC+5 deep brain stimulation system and a strip of electrodes on top of the motor cortex in the brain that sensed essential tremor. The research team used algorithms they developed to decode signals to figure out when an essential tremor was happening to activate the DBS system.
Read more about the DBS system.
Patricia T Perry says
Hey. I have a son in law that suffers from chronic stomach pain and has for many years. He is 44 and has been to John Hopkins, Duke, and smaller hospitals over the last 10 plus years. All they can do is give him medicine. He is disabled, in the bed most of the time, unable to be a husband or father of an autistic 6 year old. He has developed diabetes now. They say there is a disconnect between his brain and the nerve linings of his stomach. I happened to see this article and was wondering if this brain stimulation could be an answer to prayer. What do you think?
Regards,
Pat
Chris Newmarker says
Thanks for reaching out, Pat. I’m not an expert, so I don’t know enough to answer your question intelligently. I would suggest reaching out to researchers and companies doing neuromodulation work and get their opinions. EnteroMedics, for example, has a neuromodulation device to treat obesity. (http://www.enteromedics.com/) Perhaps they might have insights? Hope this helps. Hope your son-in-law’s health improves.