Deep Brain Stimulation News and Research

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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure used to treat a variety of disabling neurological symptoms—most commonly the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), such as tremor, rigidity, stiffness, slowed movement, and walking problems. The procedure is also used to treat essential tremor, a common neurological movement disorder. At present, the procedure is used only for patients whose symptoms cannot be adequately controlled with medications.

Understanding imbalance in key neural pathway to help treat psychiatric disorders

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have identified for the first time an imbalance in a key neural pathway that explains how some people reactivate negative emotional memories.

10 Apr 2019

Advances in deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s could lead to treatments for other disorders

A new paper published in Nature Reviews Neurology suggests that recent advances in deep brain stimulation for Parkinson disease could lead to treatments for conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome and depression.

8 Apr 2019

DBS improves patients' cognitive control by increasing power of brain rhythms

In a new study that could improve the therapeutic efficacy of deep-brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders such as depression, a team of scientists shows that, when DBS is applied to a specific brain region, it improves patients' cognitive control over their behavior by increasing the power of a specific low-frequency brain rhythm in their prefrontal cortex.

4 Apr 2019

Deep brain stimulation offers significant relief for patients with treatment-resistant depression

Patients suffering from severe, treatment-resistant depression can benefit not only acutely but also the long-term from deep brain stimulation, as researchers from the Medical Center - University of Freiburg and their colleagues from the University Hospital Bonn demonstrate in a current study.

19 Mar 2019

Parkinson's treatment boosts the number and strength of brain cell 'batteries'

Scientists have gained clues into how a Parkinson's disease treatment, called deep brain stimulation, helps tackle symptoms.

13 Mar 2019

Study suggests two deep brain stimulation sites that are effective for treating OCD

Deep brain stimulation reduces symptoms of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder during stimulation of either the ventral capsule or anteromedial subthalamic nucleus, according to a study in Biological Psychiatry.

8 Mar 2019

Non-invasive technique to accurately study activity in deepest part of the brain

The subcortical areas of the brain, situated in its deepest reaches, remain a mystery. Scientists are aware of the critical role they play in motor, emotional and associative activity but do not know precisely how they work.

27 Feb 2019

New study analyzes impulsivity in Parkinson's patients treated with Deep Brain Stimulation

Promises of food, sums of money or entertaining pastimes: it does not matter what the temptation is, a new study shows that patients suffering from Parkinson's disease who are treated with Deep Brain Stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus are not more impulsive than others when making decisions about a stimulus that they find particularly appealing.

26 Feb 2019

Researchers capture altered brain activity patterns of Parkinson's in mice

The tell-tale tremors of Parkinson's disease emerge from abnormal activity in a brain region crucial for voluntary movement.

19 Feb 2019

Researchers identify brain pathways of aversion

What happens in the brain when we feel discomfort? Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden are now one step closer to finding the answer. In a new study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry they identify which pathways in the mouse brain control behavior associated with aversion.

14 Feb 2019

Study aims to customize epilepsy treatment by stimulating the brain non-invasively

Stimulating the brain with implanted electrodes is a successful, but very drastic measure. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, Kempenhaeghe, Philips and Gent University will therefore be working on a method to stimulate the brain using electrodes that are placed on the head rather than inside it.

13 Feb 2019

Beta wave control in Parkinson’s diseased brain could be a potential therapy

A neurofeedback system whereby the patients with Parkinson’s disease can themselves voluntarily control the beta wave activity in their own deep brain and the effects this control might have on their symptom control.

6 Feb 2019

Neurofeedback system enables Parkinson's patients to voluntarily control brain wave activity

Parkinson's disease is associated with abnormal beta wave activity in the subthalamic nucleus, but a direct connection between this activity and movement difficulties has not yet been established.

6 Feb 2019

Erasing memories could reduce relapse rates among drug addicts

Erasing memories that link environmental cues to drug use could represent a potential new treatment for drug addiction and prevent relapse.

22 Jan 2019

New implant could restore the transmission of electrical signals in injured central nervous system

The ByAxon project is developing a new implant that restores the transmission of electrical signals in an injured central nervous system.

21 Jan 2019

Pitt study delves deeper into how electrical stimulation activates neurons

Electrical stimulation of the brain is common practice in neuroscience research and is an increasingly common and effective clinical therapy for a variety of neurological disorders. However, there is limited understanding of why this treatment works at the neural level.

8 Jan 2019

New study describes various gene therapy strategies for treating Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and nonmotor deficits majorly caused by the loss of dopaminergic cells in the Substantia Nigra pars compacta as well as the destruction of nigrostriatal pathway.

28 Dec 2018

Real-time neurofeedback controls Parkinson’s brainwaves

A neurofeedback system enables Parkinson’s disease patients to voluntarily control brainwaves associated with symptoms of the disorder, according to new research published in eNeuro. It remains to be determined whether such a system can provide symptom relief.

From Society for Neuroscience 19 Dec 2018

Researchers find effective new target for mood-boosting brain stimulation

Researchers have found an effective target in the brain for electrical stimulation to improve mood in people suffering from depression.

3 Dec 2018

The brain uses two clocks to predict the future

That moment when you step on the gas pedal a split second before the light changes, or when you tap your toes even before the first piano note of Camila Cabello's "Havana" is struck. That's anticipatory timing.

21 Nov 2018