Brain Stimulation News and Research

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DBS achieves stable motor improvements in Parkinson’s

Deep brain stimulation for patients with Parkinson’s disease achieves improvements in motor symptoms that are sustained over 3 years, report researchers.

19 Jul 2012

U.S. FDA clears Mazor Robotics’ Renaissance platform

Mazor Robotics Ltd., a developer of innovative surgical robots and complementary products, today announced its Renaissance platform received U.S. FDA marketing clearance, expanding the applications of the Renaissance system to include the precise positioning of surgical instruments and implants during brain surgery.

17 Jul 2012

Novel way to monitor real-time chemical changes in brains of patients undergoing DBS

Mayo Clinic researchers have found a novel way to monitor real-time chemical changes in the brains of patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS). The groundbreaking insight will help physicians more effectively use DBS to treat brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease, depression and Tourette syndrome.

16 Jul 2012

Single dose breast cancer treatment helps forego 6-7 week radiation regimen

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is the first and only hospital in the five boroughs of New York City to offer women with early stage breast cancer INTRABEAM radiotherapy, an innovative radiation treatment delivered in a single dose at the time of surgery.

5 Jul 2012

Small coils activate neurons to modulate brain-cell activity

Magnetic fields generated by microscopic devices implanted into the brain may be able to modulate brain-cell activity and reduce symptoms of several neurological disorders.

27 Jun 2012

Deep brain stimulation reduces binge eating

Deep brain stimulation reduces binge eating in mice, suggesting that this surgery, which is approved for treatment of certain neurologic and psychiatric disorders, may also be an effective therapy for obesity. Presentation of the results will take place Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

25 Jun 2012

DBS can improve muscle symptoms in patients with Parkinson's

Patients with Parkinson's disease who undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS)—a treatment in which a pacemaker-like device sends pulses to electrodes implanted in the brain—can expect stable improvement in muscle symptoms for at least three years, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study appearing in the most recent issue of the journal Neurology.

22 Jun 2012

Deep brain stimulation remains an effective treatment for Parkinson's

A "brain pacemaker" called deep brain stimulation (DBS) remains an effective treatment for Parkinson's disease for at least three years, according to a study in the June 2010 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

21 Jun 2012

European launch of technology for quantitative assessment of Parkinson’s disease symptoms from Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies

Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies announced today that they are launching the latest version of their medical device technology for assessing Parkinson’s disease next week at the Movement Disorders Society Congress in Dublin, Ireland.

14 Jun 2012

Targeting noradrenergic system combats gait freezing in Parkinson’s patients

Methylphenidate may be a useful treatment for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease receiving subthalamic nucleus stimulation who experience gait hypokinesia and freezing, show findings from a randomized trial.

14 Jun 2012

Mazor Robotics successfully completes first robot-guided brain surgical procedures

Mazor Robotics Ltd., a developer of innovative surgical robots and complementary products, today announced the successful completion of the first robot-guided brain surgical procedures, which were performed with Mazor Robotics' technology.

11 Jun 2012

FDA clears Nexstim’s new module for use with NBS System

Nexstim Oy, a medical device company, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the NexSpeech module for use with the Navigated Brain Stimulation (NBS) System.

11 Jun 2012

Patent claims for technology to assess Parkinson’s disease issued to Great Lakes Neurotechnologies

Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies announced today that the U.S. Patent Office has issued claims under patent number 8,187,209 covering their Movement Disorder Monitoring System and Method for quantitative assessment of motor symptoms associated with movement disorders.

6 Jun 2012

NYU Langone establishes unique neuromodulation center

The Department of Neurosurgery at NYU Langone Medical Center has established a unique, multidisciplinary neuromodulation center for the treatment of complex neurological conditions including movement disorders like Parkinson's disease, chronic pain and psychiatric condition such as obsessive compulsive disorder and severe depression.

31 May 2012

Medtronic fourth quarter revenue increases 4% to $4.297 billion

Medtronic, Inc. today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 27, 2012.

From Medtronic 22 May 2012

Results reported for clinical trial for the treatment of depression using external trigeminal nerve stimulation

Earlier today, at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Dr. Ian Cook, Principal Investigator and Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, and a Senior Medical Advisor to NeuroSigma, Inc., presented the results of a Phase Ib open-label clinical trial that studied the effects of eTNS™ on depressive symptoms in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy. Results from the 17-question Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17), a clinician-rated scale, showed a 50.0% reduction in depression and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a self-reported scale, showed a 58.0% reduction in scores. Both scales achieved statistical significance. In the trial, subjects placed stimulating eTNS™ electrodes on their foreheads for 8 hours each night and their depression was measured every two weeks using recognized standard tests. eTNS was well tolerated and no serious adverse events occurred during the 8-week treatment period.

9 May 2012

DBS may offer hope for patients with mild Alzheimer's

A study on a handful of people with suspected mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) suggests that a device that sends continuous electrical impulses to specific "memory" regions of the brain appears to increase neuronal activity. Results of the study using deep brain stimulation, a therapy already used in some patients with Parkinson's disease and depression, may offer hope for at least some with AD, an intractable disease with no cure.

8 May 2012

New link between motor action and emotion

The way we use our hands may determine how emotions are organized in our brains, according to a recent study published in PLoS ONE by psychologists Geoffrey Brookshire and Daniel Casasanto of The New School for Social Research in New York.

3 May 2012

Electrical brain stimulation technology may prevent migraine attacks

Migraine pain sits at the upper end of the typical pain scale - an angry-red section often labeled "severe." At this intensity, pain is debilitating. Yet many sufferers do not get relief from - or cannot tolerate - over-the-counter and commonly prescribed pain medications.

2 May 2012

Conference to focus on deep brain stimulation for OCD, depression

Deep brain stimulation, increasingly recognized as an effective therapy for certain cases of Parkinson's disease, dystonia and tremor, also may help patients who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression that fails to respond to other treatments.

27 Apr 2012