Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical technology that allows the manipulation of activity within specific brain regions through delivery of electrical stimulation via implanted electrodes. The growth of DBS has led to research around the development of novel interventions for a wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, chronic pain, Tourette’s syndrome, treatment-resistant depression, anorexia nervosa, and Alzheimer’s disease. Some of these treatment approaches have a high level of efficacy as well as an established place in the clinical armamentarium for the diseases in question, such as DBS for movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease. Other interventions are at a more developmental stage, such as DBS for depression and Alzheimer’s disease. Success both in clinical aspects of DBS and new innovations depends on a close-knit multidisciplinary team incorporating experts in the underlying condition (often neurologists and psychiatrists); neurosurgeons; nurse specialists, who may be involved in device programming and other aspects of patient care; and researchers including neuroscientists, imaging specialists, engineers, and signal analysts. Directly linked to the growth of DBS as a specialty is allied research around neural signals analysis and device development, which feed directly back into further clinical progress. The close links between clinical DBS and basic and translational research make it an exciting and fast-moving area of neuroscience.