Dystonia Your Health
About the Therapy
About DBS Therapy
Unlike other surgical treatments for dystonia, deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy is possibly reversible and adjustable. It uses an implanted device that stimulates specific areas of the brain, enabling circuits that control movement to function better. This may relieve the symptoms of your disease.
What Is It?
DBS therapy for dystonia uses a surgically implanted medical device similar to a cardiac pacemaker to deliver electrical stimulation to precisely targeted areas within the brain.
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Benefits and Risks
All treatment and outcome results are specific to the individual patient, and will form part of your consultation with your healthcare professional.
Please consult your healthcare professional for a full list of benefits, indications, precautions, clinical results, and other important medical information that pertains to DBS therapy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more by reviewing the most common questions and concerns about DBS therapy for dystonia.
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Next: What Is It?
What Is It?
What Is DBS Therapy?
Deep Brain Stimulation System
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy treats the symptoms of chronic, intractable (drug refractory) primary dystonia, including generalised and segmental dystonia, hemidystonia, and cervical dystonia (torticollis).
How It Works
DBS uses a surgically implanted medical device similar to a cardiac pacemaker to deliver electrical stimulation to precisely targeted areas within the brain.
Continuous stimulation of these areas blocks the signals that cause the disabling motor symptoms of dystonia. The electrical stimulation can be noninvasively adjusted.
A DBS system consists of three implanted components:
- Lead – A lead consists of four thin coiled insulated wires with four electrodes at the lead tip. The lead is implanted in the brain.
- Extension – An extension connects to the lead and is threaded under the skin from the head, down the neck and into the upper chest.
- Neurostimulator – The neurostimulator connects to the extension. This small, sealed device similar to a cardiac pacemaker contains a battery and electronics. The neurostimulator is implanted beneath the skin in the chest below the collarbone (depending on the patient, a surgeon may implant the neurostimulator in the abdomen). Sometimes called a “brain pacemaker,” it produces the electrical pulses needed for stimulation.
These electrical pulses are delivered through the extension and lead to the targeted areas in the brain. The pulses can be adjusted wirelessly to check or change the neurostimulator settings.
Operating the System
Your surgeon will provide you with a small handheld patient programmer. This programmer allows you turn the system on and off by holding it for 1 or 2 seconds against the area where the neurostimulator is implanted. However, in most cases, the neurostimulator is always on.
Next: Frequently Asked Questions
Information on this site should not be used as a substitute for talking with your doctor. Always talk with your doctor about diagnosis and treatment information.