First-in-Human Trials of Closed-Loop Deep-Brain Stimulation
Researchers conducted the first in-patient tests of deep-brain stimulation that relies on a feedback loop in a study funded by the Center for Neurotechnology (CNT), based at the University of Washington and an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC).
The ability to add a feedback loop, making the system a “closed loop,” could significantly improve deep-brain stimulation (DBS), which is a safe medical treatment for a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders. including Parkinson's disease and essential tremors. Current DBS devices provide continuous stimulation and can become less effective as the nervous system adapts. A feedback loop that alerts the DBS to symptoms will improve its long-term effectiveness.
Millions of patients suffer from neurological and psychiatric disorders. DBS is a device-based therapy that could have fewer side-effects and greater effectiveness than other options such as pharmacological approaches. Thus far, scientists have been challenged to include a feedback loop in DBS devices to make them operate in a closed-loop manner.
In collaboration with industry partner Medtronic, CNT teams used machine learning to detect brain signals that are indicative of tremor. The Activa system then adjusts the symptom-relieving stimulation in real-time as indicated is needed by the feedback loop. This effort builds on CNT’s adaptive DBS research and extends the framework to at-home treatment and monitoring of Parkinson’s patients with DBS implants.
