Deep Brain Stimulation Essay

Deep brain stimulation is a technique where an electrode is placed within certain areas of the brain. Electrical impulses are then created by the electrode to regulate abnormal impulses. Under the patient’s skin near the collarbone, the electrode is connected to a stimulator or pacemaker (Pluta, 2011). Deep brain stimulation requires locating the target part of the brain and then drilling a small hole in the skull to allow the placement of an electrode. During the implantation of the electrode, testing occurs to make sure that the electrode is only stimulating nerve cells that reduce symptoms. Deep brain stimulation is currently an established treatment for dystonia, Parkinson’s disease, tremors, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (Pluta, …show more content…
Almost all of these cases reported beneficial effects on motor tics, reporting up to seventy percent reduction with tics. Since then more case studies have continued to come out reporting a significant reduction in tics. Of all these cases, the lowest increase of tic reduction was at twenty five percent, the highest being at ninety percent (Schrock, Mink, Woods, Porta, Servello, Visser-Vandewalle, & Silburn, 2014). All participants showed improvement even if it was not large improvements like desired. Not only were there improvements in tics but also in obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depression, and anxiety (Schrock et al., 2014). Although deep brain stimulation is relatively new, it is showing promising progress for those with TS. Not only is deep brain stimulation showing great effects on individuals with TS, it is already working for individuals with Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The US Food and Drug Administration approved deep brain stimulation as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease in 2002, primary dystonia in 2003 and obsessive-compulsive disorder in 2009 (Chen, Xiong, Xu, & Liu,