Closed-loop deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease: Explore the superiority and mechanism

Subthalamic nuclei (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective surgical intervention for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD). It ameliorates cardinal motor symptoms including tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia. However, the therapeutic effect is limited by unwanted side effects and the cost of device. Parkinsonian symptoms are fluctuated and affected by pharmalogical and environmental situations. Recent studies showed that a certain electrophysiological biomarker recorded from STN in PD correlated with the motor impairments of patients. It contributed to the hypothesis that stimulation triggered by the certain electrophysiological marker may improve the therapeutic efficacy of DBS for PD. Driven by the above studies, a closed-loop DBS system was developed in our group. This system only delivers stimulation on demand. Stimulation is triggered when pathological biomarker exceeds threshold. This system was test intensively and passed IEC6060-1 and IEC62304. Prior to the experiment on patients with PD, the system was also test on three animals (pig). Neither seizure nor other abnormal neurological symptoms were observed during stimulation. The safety and stability of this device was confirmed. The results provide support to the study on patients and examine the superiority of closed-loop DBS in treatment of PD patients.

Project ID:PG10701-0025
External Project ID:NHRI-EX107-10413NC