Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an established neurosurgical technology that treats several neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and dystonia, as well as epilepsy and a growing number of psychiatric disorders. Although clinically used for over 20 years, DBS remains the focus of significant interest in the engineering and clinical research communities. While efforts continue to understand the cellular mechanisms of action of DBS, novel questions have recently emerged to drive the clinical and technological advancements of DBS therapies. Two key questions have rapidly gained interest as new devices for neural stimulation and recordings become available: (1) How do stimulation location and parameters affect the therapeutic efficacy of DBS? and (2) How can we maximize the efficacy and efficiency of DBS while minimizing the burden associated with the programming of the neural stimulators? Answers to these questions will steer the field of clinical neuromodulation in future years and depend on using the latest technological advancements that allow us to interpret brain activity during stimulation.
The aim of this Research Topic is to provide new insight into advancements in the study of DBS, with an emphasis on new technologies, computational tools, and integrative approaches that address key questions relating to the underlying mechanisms and optimization of DBS. This Research Topic welcomes original research papers and reviews. Works that develop new technologies for DBS as well as works that leverage computational analyses, in vivo studies, or clinical studies to shed light on how DBS works are welcome. Contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms of action of DBS that leverage advances in closed-loop stimulation approaches, medical imaging, computational modeling, and experimental models of DBS are strongly encouraged. Studies involving collaborations between researchers and clinicians are especially encouraged.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an established neurosurgical technology that treats several neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and dystonia, as well as epilepsy and a growing number of psychiatric disorders. Although clinically used for over 20 years, DBS remains the focus of significant interest in the engineering and clinical research communities. While efforts continue to understand the cellular mechanisms of action of DBS, novel questions have recently emerged to drive the clinical and technological advancements of DBS therapies. Two key questions have rapidly gained interest as new devices for neural stimulation and recordings become available: (1) How do stimulation location and parameters affect the therapeutic efficacy of DBS? and (2) How can we maximize the efficacy and efficiency of DBS while minimizing the burden associated with the programming of the neural stimulators? Answers to these questions will steer the field of clinical neuromodulation in future years and depend on using the latest technological advancements that allow us to interpret brain activity during stimulation.
The aim of this Research Topic is to provide new insight into advancements in the study of DBS, with an emphasis on new technologies, computational tools, and integrative approaches that address key questions relating to the underlying mechanisms and optimization of DBS. This Research Topic welcomes original research papers and reviews. Works that develop new technologies for DBS as well as works that leverage computational analyses, in vivo studies, or clinical studies to shed light on how DBS works are welcome. Contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms of action of DBS that leverage advances in closed-loop stimulation approaches, medical imaging, computational modeling, and experimental models of DBS are strongly encouraged. Studies involving collaborations between researchers and clinicians are especially encouraged.