Deep Brain Stimulation

The brain is a very elaborately designed organ that has well organized tissues and nerves. It is the brain that runs the entire body, controls its vital functions, and determines our personality. The three chief parts of the brain, the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem manage diverse activities.

The brain can be affected by neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
You are a potential candidate for deep brain stimulation when Parkinson’s disease affects you. It is a disorder of the central nervous system, involving primarily a degeneration of certain nerve cells in deep parts of the brain called the basal ganglia, and loss of nerve cells (or neurons) in a part of the brainstem called the substantia nigra. These cells make the neurochemical messenger dopamine, which is partly responsible for starting a circuit of messages that coordinate normal movement. In the absence of dopamine, Parkinson’s develops.
You are a candidate for deep brain stimulation if you have impairment of movement with tremor, tremor at rest, slowness, stiffness, and rigidity or balance problems.

Deep brain stimulation is a major skilled surgical procedure to be done by a neurosurgeon. It does not harm healthy and normal brain tissue by targeting nerve cells. Instead what the procedure does is block abnormal electrical signals from specific areas in the brain.

Currently, the procedure is used specifically for patients whose symptoms are not adequately controlled with medicines. It basically utilizes a type of surgically implanted, battery-operated medical device known as a neurostimulator—comparable to a heart pacemaker—to convey electrical stimulation to specific targeted areas in the brain that are in charge of movement, blocking all the irregular nerve signals that cause tremors and disease symptoms.

Though in most cases, most patients still need their medication after undergoing the deep brain stimulation; many patients undergo considerable reduction of their symptoms and are able to greatly taper their medications.