Deep Brain Stimulation May Slow Alzheimer’s In Some
Posted August 4, 2010 1:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new study suggests deep brain stimulation may help slow progression of Alzheimer’s disease in some patients.
The very experimental research shows that about half of a small group of patients who received the treatment experienced some memory improvement or at least stabilization.
The study wasn’t designed to show that the treatment worked, only that it was safe to do.
But senior author Dr. Andres Lozano of Toronto’s University Health Network says the findings are sufficiently promising that his team wants to push on with the work.
Lozano first came up with the notion of trying deep brain stimulation in Alzheimer’s patients while trying to see if the therapy could work to suppress appetite in a man who was morbidly obese.
During the procedure to implant electrodes in his brain, the man began vividly remembering events that had happened decades earlier.
For more information on participating in the next phase of the study, click here.
