A program to optimize parameters for deep brain stimulation.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is currently approved in the US and Europe for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. For many patients with medication-refractory movement disorders, DBS can provide significant long-term relief. However, the electrode must be individually programmed based on its position within the brain and according to each patient’s unique anatomy and symptomatology. While there are general guidelines available for programming DBS devices, it can be labor-intensive and time-consuming, sometimes requiring months of return visits to properly calibrate the system. An automated approach to establishing these parameters has the potential to overcome these limitations.
Emory researchers have developed an automated computer-assisted system for programming DBS devices in the clinic. The software uses clinical data to simulate the effect that different DBS parameters may have on each patient. It builds from this model to propose stimulation changes to reach optimal DBS parameters with maximal clinical efficacy. While the model that it builds is patient-specific, this software can incorporate data driven approaches to identify patterns that may be common across similar patients.
Pilot clinical study has been published.
Publication Sarikhani P, Ferleger B, Mitchell K, Ostrem J, Herron J, Mahmoudi B, Miocinovic S. Automated Deep Brain Stimulation Programming for Tremor Suppression in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor. J Neural Eng. 2022 Aug 18;19(4).