Current Status of Deep Brain Stimulation for Alzheimer's Disease: From Chance Observation to Clinical Trials
- 1Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033, USA
- 2Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Toronto Western Hospital and University of Toronto, Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto, Ontario MST 258, Canada
- Correspondence: andres.lozano{at}uhnresearch.ca
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that results in significant memory impairment and cognitive decline. Current medical treatment is aimed at treating AD symptoms but does not alter the disease course. The use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of AD is in its nascent phase. Here, we describe the evolution of DBS as a potential treatment modality for AD, including previous and current trials, as well as the behavioral and histological preclinical data that help to better understand and inform future clinical trials. As such, a phase 3 clinical trial studying the effects of forniceal DBS for AD is currently underway.
- © 2018 Lee and Lozano; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits reuse and redistribution, except for commercial purposes, provided that the original author and source are credited.
