Cleveland Clinic researchers have found that using Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for post-stroke rehabilitation patients is safe and may even help restore movement.
A first-in-human trial of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for post-stroke rehabilitation patients by Cleveland Clinic researchers has shown that using DBS to target the dentate nucleus – which regulates fine-control of voluntary movements, cognition, language, and sensory functions in the brain – is safe and feasible.
Stan Nicholas volunteered to become one of the first people in the world to try to regain his body’s function with the help of a little device planted in his brain and chest that the doctors hoped would stimulate them into action, even the parts of the brain that the stroke seemed to wipe out.
done at the cleveland clinic. and what they did here was insert a tiny electrode into the back of the brain. this was a wire that was no wider than a grain of sand. you can see it going in there at the area. there at the bottom in the back. that s a really important area for controlling movement. and they found that when they inserted this deep brain stimulation device and they essentially had it turned on for at least four months, continuously providing stimulation, that that in addition to physical therapy could help people who survived a stroke but had upper limb movement problems restores some of that function. we talked with a patient who was in this trial, and you can actually see an image, we ve got it, of the deep brain stimulation device in his own brain. you can see there that wire in the back. he had what he described as really amazing recovery here of some of his functions. he d lost a lot of it and really wasn t improving after about a year of physical therapy alone. so th