Brain Pacemaker to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease

Scientists may have found another successful way to treat those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the Toronto Western Hospital have developed a medical device similar to a heart pacemaker, but used in the brain instead. The brain pacemaker would be implanted inside a person’s body. The device would send electrical impulses meant to stimulate the brain to control some ailments, including; Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, tremors and dementia.

Lead researcher Andres M. Lozano came up with the idea after a treating an obese patient with Deep Brain Stimulation in 2003. He tested his theory on a relatively small group of Alzheimer’s patients between 2005 and 2008. A group of six Alzheimer’s patients underwent surgery to have the brain pacemaker implanted. All the patients were able to leave the hospital within three days following the surgery. The patients undergo routine cognitive assessments to track their progress.

Three of the patients experienced an increase in memory and show less deterioration than a typical Alzheimer’s patient would normally have.  Lozano is planning a larger study in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the device further. He is just waiting on the funding to come through. The details of the trial have been published in the Annals of Neurology.