Next year, medical researchers will test in patients a one-of-a-kind
brain implant that can sense electrical activity in the brain while
simultaneously emitting electric pulses, says device developer Medtronic.
Deep-brain stimulators are mainly used to regulate the movement problems
associated with Parkinson's and other diseases, but they are also used
in Europe and Canada to treat epilepsy and are being used experimentally
to treat severe depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. But
doctors must use trial and error to determine the best parameters for
the electrical stimulation programmed into each patient's chip.
The smarter brain stimulator is an improved version of Medtronic's
existing deep-brain stimulator device, which has already been implanted
in more than 80,000 people
around the world. Medtronic has added an extra chip so that it can
detect electrical activity and respond automatically to changes in the
brain.
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