Parkinson's disease is a disease that leads to the decay of the brain and is almost always fatal. Patients suffer from tremors and stiffness of the limbs with slower movements. One in twenty people over the age of 80 can be affected. By 2050 there will be 12 million patients worldwide.
A newer method of treating Parkinson is deep brain stimulation (DBS). In DBS, an electrode is implanted in the diseased part of the brain, stimulating this area electrically to alleviate symptoms. But DBS also has disadvantages. Since it continuously stimulates the brain even in the absence of symptoms, there can be adverse side effects. These include speech disorders, involuntary eye movements and mood swings such as overexcitation or depression.
One approach to improving DBS therapy is the "closed-loop DBS", which compares brain status with acute symptoms and performs electrical stimulation only when the patient needs it. Early research suggests that this adjusted stimulation with a closed control loop leads to a reorganization of the brain so that the dependence on the stimulation is reduced and possibly even a healing effect might occur. Juan Ansó is working towards such an adaptive deep brain stimulation.
Full project details
http://p3.snf.ch/project-188140
