Brain-stimulating implant can turn down Parkinson’s symptoms as required
Special brain implants could help “turn down” the effects of Parkinson’s disease, research shows. The treatment is a variation on conventionaldeep brain stimulation treatment, which is already used in Parkinson’s patients. Deep brain stimulation involves delivering a current which can help dampen down the activity of certain nerve cell clusters in the brain. However, it can cause unwanted side effects including speech difficulties and unusually jerky movement. Theresearchers in a new studybelieve that they may have found a different approach, courtesy of a type of responsive stimulation that only kicks into action when an excess of beta waves, common in Parkinson’s patients, are detected....