As reported in Michael J. Fox News, the FDA has just approved the novel Percept PC Neurostimulator, a device inserted into the brain of patients with Parkinson’s to administer deep brain stimulation therapy. The new technology delivers therapy through electric signals, while simultaneously picking up on and recording brain signals in order to give doctors more insight into what’s causing the patient’s symptoms and experience. This new scope will show physicians the relationship between symptoms and the precise brain signaling that accompanies it.

Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder that affects patient’s movement and mobility. The progressive disorder begins with slight tremors and rigidity, and advances into greater loss of balance, difficulty with speech, rigid muscles, slowness, difficulty walking or standing, and occasionally hallucinations and delusions. It develops when neurons that normally are responsible for dopamine die off, which would normally be responsible for communication between the brain and muscles. The disease tends to develop later in life, usually developing after age 50.

What is Deep Brain Stimulation?

“This device allows us to measure and record brain signals, which can be matched with a person’s symptoms as reported in the diary or what we see on exam. By looking at brain signals, we might be able to tell whether symptoms relate to medication wearing off or to dyskinesia, for example, and we can use this information to more precisely understand how a patient’s symptoms respond to DBS.”