At the University of Washington researchers have been focusing on drastically improving the longevity and performance of deep brain stimulators for people suffering from essential tremor. These devices, implanted like pacemakers with electrode leads stretching up into the brain, run on internal batteries. The devices, not knowing when to quiet the symptoms of essential tremor are essentially kept on all the time.
The University of Washington team created a system that uses implanted cortical electrodes attached to the brain to detect the brain activity related to muscle movement and only have the stimulator stimulating when needed. The system worked as intended, calming the involuntary muscle activity while reducing the load on the stimulator.
Moreover, the same system can be used to create an easy to use voluntary activation system using which the user can, for example, press a button on his chest and have the stimulator turn on immediately. This would help while doing household chores while saving the device’s energy when needed, prolonging the time until the next surgical replacement.
Here’s a quick demo of the performance achieved by the closed-loop system:
Study abstract in journal IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering: Cortical brain computer interface for closed-loop deep brain stimulation…
Via: UW…
