Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) has improved the lives of thousands of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) since it was approved by FDA in 2002. By delivering electrical currents to the basal ganglia, the region of the brain that controls movement, the so-called “brain pacemaker” can relieve tremors, rigidity, and other motor symptoms that debilitate PD patients.
DBS now treating epilepsy and essential tremor and obsessive-compulsive disorder is being used by 100,000 patients worldwide. “The technology can have almost miraculous effects”, according to Warren Grill http://fds.duke.edu/db/pratt/BME/warremn.grill, Professor of Bioengineering at Duke University. “However, the technology is not perfect or even fully understood”. For the past decade, Grill and his team have been trying to learn more about how DBS works and how it can be improved.
The team has gained new insight into how to combat a critical biological problem in PD and they have been able to develop their novel technology referred to as “Temporally Optimized Patterned Stimulation” (TOPS).
Unlike conventional generators that emit a steady stream of pulses, TOPS pulse generators deliver intermittent patterns of stimulation at about 45 pulses per second which last only one-tenth of one-one-thousandth of a second.
TOPS was designed to be implanted above a patient’s collarbone and is significantly smaller and longer lasting than standard implants since it has a energy conserving program that generates electrical pulses.
The result is that TOPS technology appears to make DBS more effective at relieving PD symptoms and greatly extends the life of neurostimulator batteries which translates to fewer risks and complications for patients.
As the therapeutic value of TOPS became apparent, Grill and his team began working with Duke’s Office of Licensing and Ventures (OLV) https://olv.duke.edu, to translate the innovation from the lab to a commercially available device for use in patients.
Grill plans to request FDA-sponsored clinical trials for a TOPS based device which will take several years to complete. In the meantime, the team will continue to investigate the best way to get TOPS technology to patients safely, strategically, and expeditiously.