Deep Brain Stimulation Shows Promise As Alzheimer’s Treatment

Deep Brain Stimulation Shows Promise As Alzheimer's Treatment
Deep Brain Stimulation Shows Promise As Alzheimer’s Treatment
In small study, some patients that received electrical stimulation to the brain saw the size of their brains increase.

A recently published Toronto study suggests hope for Alzheimer’s patients. The study found that a method of providing electrical stimulation to a part of the brain affected by the disease may halt or even reverse it.

The Toronto Western Research Institute study was published in the science journal Brain Stimulation. Dr. Andres M. Lozano led the study and said what inspired it was a desire to discover the effect of applying steady electrical pulses to the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient. Applying electrical impulses for deep brain stimulation by using an implant has helped treat neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease.

In their study, Dr. Lozano and his team took six Alzheimer’s patients and inserted a pacemaker-powered implant into the hippocampus region of their brains, the region most affected by Alzheimer’s. The disease literally eats away at brains, in particular the hippocampus region.

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