https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/19/health/parkinsons-brain-pacemaker.html
A Personalized Brain Pacemaker for Parkinson’s
In a new frontier for deep brain stimulation, researchers used A.I. to develop individualized algorithms, which helped a skateboarder and other patients with Parkinson’s disease.
By Pam Belluck, The New York Times, Aug. 19, 2024
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In the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers transformed deep brain stimulation — an established treatment for Parkinson’s — into a personalized therapy that tailored the amount of electrical stimulation to each patient’s individual symptoms…
Although the study was small, it represents the strides being made in using brain implants and artificial intelligence to personalize treatment for neurological and psychiatric disorders — essentially developing pacemakers for the brain…
Recent experiments have begun individualizing brain stimulation for depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and chronic pain. While much more research is needed — along with ways to make the approaches pragmatic and affordable — several experts predicted that some versions of brain pacemakers could be available within five or 10 years… [end quote]
Current deep-brain stimulation for Parkinson’s uses a constant input which doesn’t adapt to fluctuating signals in groups of neurons. The new AI-equipped device receives signals from the brain and then adapts the signal from the stimulator to provide just the right amount of stimulation.
This two-way communication is an exciting advance that could help thousands of patients. It’s just the beginning of new advances that could help several different types of brain-based illnesses.
Wendy