Parkinson's Advancements at Stanford
My cousin, Bruce Goldman, is a scientific writer, at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California. In his blog post he writes about deeo-brain stimulation devices for Parkinson's patients. He can explain it a lot better than I can.
Over 100,000 Parkinson’s patients have had deep-brain-stimulation (DBS) devices implanted. These device send out electrical signals that counter and neutralize faulty signals originating from the place in the brain where the device is implanted.
But a second-generation version of the DBS device can not only transmit signals to the brain but, in addition, monitor and record the brain region of interest’s electrical output. This two-way "brain radio" will let neurologists remotely capture vast amounts of information about a particular patient’s brain-firing patterns to discern that patient’s “neural signature” – and ultimately, it is hoped, be able to develop algorithms for automating the device’s signaling program so that its output changes minute by minute in response to changes in brain activity.
The research promises to unlock Parkinson's secrets that until now have been buried in patients' brains.