Two new studies from UC San Francisco are pointing the way toward round-the-clock personalized care for people with Parkinson's disease through an implanted device that can treat movement problems during the day and insomnia at night. The approach, called adaptive deep brain stimulation, or aDBS, uses methods derived from AI to monitor a patient's brain activity for changes in symptoms. When it spots them, it intervenes with precisely calibrated pulses of electricity.
The therapy complements the medications that Parkinson's patients take to manage their symptoms, giving less stimulation when the drug is active, to ward off excess movements, and more stimulation as the drug wears off, to prevent stiffness. It is the first time a so-called "closed loop" brain implant technology has been shown to work in Parkinson's patients as they go about their daily lives. The device picks up brain signals to create a continuous feedback mechanism that can curtail symptoms as they arise.
Users can switch out of the adaptive mode or turn the treatment off entirely with a hand-held device. For the first study, researchers conducted a clinical trial with four people to test how well the approach worked during the day, comparing it to an earlier brain implant DBS technology known as constant or cDBS. To ensure the treatment provided the maximum relief to each participant, the researchers asked them to identify their most bothersome symptom.
The new technology reduced those symptoms by 50%. Resul.