UC San Francisco
scientists have discovered a possible mechanism for how deep-brain stimulation
(DBS), a widely used treatment for movement disorders, exerts its therapeutic
effects. Few medical treatments show results as rapid and dramatic as those
seen with DBS, in which surgically implanted devices deliver electrical pulses
to inner brain structures involved in movement. In most Parkinson's disease
(PD) patients who receive the treatment, symptoms of slow movement, tremor, and
rigidity sharply diminish soon after the stimulation device is activated, and
quickly return if the device is turned off.
But
surprisingly, there has been very little understanding of precisely why and how
DBS works so well—a lack of knowledge that has held back efforts to further
improve the therapy. Despite the great success of DBS, some significant
problems remain. Customizing the stimulation delivered by DBS devices for each
patient to maximally reduce symptoms is challenging and time consuming. And a
minority of patients never obtains the full benefit their physicians expect.
With a better understanding of how DBS acts on brain circuits, researchers hope
to make DBS an even more effective treatment.
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