How is deep brain stimulation used for Parkinson's disease?

Deep brain stimulation is essentially a pacemaker implant which programs out many Parkinson's symptoms, explains Melissa Houser, MD, a neurologist at Scripps Health.

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It is not a last-resort option for Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's specialists are using it more and more

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in the earlier stages of the disease when the medications are still working. [LIGHT ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

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Deep brain stimulation is essentially a pacemaker of the brain. It's very similar to a cardiac pacemaker.

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We put a small electrode the size of a angel hair pasta into the deep nuclei of the brain that

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are involved in Parkinson's disease, connect it to a little generator in the chest wall, and program some of the symptoms out.

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It's very successful. In the right candidate, in a carefully chosen candidate,

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is not a last-resort option for Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's specialists are using it more and more

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in the earlier stages of the disease when the medications are still working but the patient is

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beginning to have a little bit of the wearing off or a little bit of the dyskinesia. And simply one of the reasons to use it

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is not just symptomatic treatment but planning in advance so that we don't keep racking up their medications.