Adaptive deep brain stimulation for tremor control
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Tremor phase-controlled, amplitude-thresholded deep brain stimulation for tremor control
IRAS ID
160775
Contact name
Hayriye Cagnan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford University
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
Deep brain stimulation is an effective surgical treatment used for management of common disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Essential Tremor. It involves regular and high frequency stimulation of key brain regions by a battery powered brain pacemaker. Stimulation is effective, but can affect other functions giving rise to side effects. This is because the form of stimulation presently applied cannot distinguish between diseased and normal brain activities. The project aims to alter the way in which stimulation is delivered so that it preferentially disrupts disease-related brain activities, leaving normal activity relatively spared. In this study we will tailor the precise timing of stimulation to the periods in which disease-related activity is most susceptible to interruption. Such a pattern of stimulation (called adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation) may achieve the same or even better suppression of symptoms than conventional Deep Brain Stimulation, while potentially reducing side effects of stimulation and use less battery power, which would require fewer operations to change the brain pacemaker’s battery.The study will take place at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and at University College London Hospitals in London, and is funded by the MRC. During this study, patients with essential tremor and parkinson's disease will be recruited over the next three years. Each participant will be involved in the study for one visit.
Summary of Results
Whether a swing increases or decreases in its excursion depends on where, in each cycle of back and forth (or the swing’s “phase”), it is pushed. Here, we harness the same principle to develop a new form of therapeutic deep brain stimulation, and show that this phase-specific stimulation is more efficient than conventional stimulation treatments for relieving tremor.REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0106
Date of REC Opinion
5 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion