Movement disorders with deep brain stimulation better treatable in the future?

Deep brain stimulation improves the therapeutic success of movement disorders

Certain patterns of brain activity are related to the severity of Dystonia, according to a recent study. Here, deep brain stimulation (THS) therapy can lead to improved treatment success, report the researchers from the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

The brain activity patterns indicate the severity of the movement disorder and the treatment effect of deep brain stimulation, according to the Charité. For the first time, the scientists have been able to prove that a particular brain activity pattern is related to the severity of the disease and the success of the treatment of brain stimulation. The new findings could help to "adapt the treatment process even more needs-based and thus significantly improve the quality of life of patients," the researchers hope. Their study results have been published in the journal "Annals of Neurology".

Certain brain activity patterns are related to the movement disorder dystonia. A deep brain stimulation here can lead to a significant relief of the symptoms. (Image: denisismagilov / fotolia.com)

Dystonia is one of the most common movement disorders

According to the experts, more than 500,000 people suffer from dystonia throughout Europe. In the disease, the balance between excitatory and inhibitory nerve connections is disturbed, which ensures "orderly" movement, explain the researchers. The result is involuntary movements, convulsions and convulsions of certain muscles. Of the cervical dystonia, especially the neck and neck area are affected. Overall, the disease after Parkinson's disease and the essential tremor, the third most common movement disorder worldwide.

Electrodes in the brain

"In dystonia patients, the nerve cells oscillate in the so-called theta rhythm of four to twelve hertz," explain the experts. In the current study, the Charité researchers were able to demonstrate for the first time for isolated dystonia a direct correlation between a specific brain activity pattern, the onset of symptoms and the subsequent effect of THS. In 27 patients, the study used stereotactic techniques to implant electrodes on both sides into the globus pallidus internus (Gpi) in the basal ganglia, the researchers report. Although it has long been known that the increased neuronal activity can be slowed by the stimulation of GPi and that the THS is an effective therapy, however, remains the precise mode of action according to the experts so far unclear.

Brain activity patterns of more than 400 patients were evaluated

The team around Professor At the Charité, Andrea Kühn intensively researches the causes of movement disorders and the use of THS as a form of therapy. Here, more than 400 THS patients have participated in measurements of brain activity. The data obtained were examined for specific patterns that correlate with symptom severity and therapeutic effect. Using the specially developed software "LEAD-DBS", the amplitude of the activity waves found was then mapped in three dimensions in a virtual brain, reports the Charité. "Significant local increase of this activity pattern was found in the brain area where THS is most effective in dystonia," the researchers said.

Further studies are already in progress

According to Dr. Wolf-Julian Neumann from the Department of Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation at the Charité provide the current study results "Hints for the causal importance of theta activity for the symptoms of dystonia and provide an explanation for the mode of action and the optimal target point of deep brain stimulation in the affected patients . "In order to investigate the long-term effects of THS on the activity of the nerve cells, this will be investigated at the Charité in another study with 15 patients. These studies are possible thanks to "an innovative THS system that continues to record brain activity even after implantation," adds Prof. Dr. med. Andrea Kühn. (Fp)