The use of whole-body kinematic technology for optimizing current steering deep brain stimulation in Parkinsons disease patients

Patients with advanced Parkinsons disease (PD) may develop motor complications caused by Levodopa, the current drug used for treatment. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an alternative surgical treatment where electrodes are implanted in a specific brain region to deliver current to surrounding brain tissue which helps to alleviate motor symptoms of PD. Presently, there is a limitation to how the current is being delivered to the targeted brain region. Current steering (CS) is a novel DBS technique, unique to Boston Scientific systems, that accounts for this limitation. CS allows the ability to divide the current between electrodes to manipulate the shape of the electric field in the targeted brain region. With the help of Boston Scientific, we intend to validate the application of CS to DBS to improve motor symptoms effectively and efficiently. A motion capture suit will quantitatively assess changes in motor symptoms.

Faculty Supervisor:

Mandar Jog

Student:

Shabna Mohideen

Partner:

Boston Scientific Ltd

Discipline:

Pharmacy / Pharmacology

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

Program: