PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved an implant using next-generation technology to improve the lives of people with movement disorders.
Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and other nervous system disorders that affect movement, can cause stiffness, tremors and problems walking. The implant creates deep stimulation, sending electrical impulses to parts of the brain to disrupt those abnormal signals.
Dr. Kelly Foote, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Florida, performed the first implant surgery. He says the new system, the SenSight™ directional deep-brain stimulation lead system, is easier to implant, and it records the abnormal signal, targeting its location.
Plus, previous systems took more time to fine tune, he said.
"It may take six months to see true benefit after the operation," Foote said. "What we hope with this new device, since we can now put it in record mode and record those abnormal signals, we can know where to deliver the stimulation the first time."
He says it also makes his job easier.
"It helps me quite a bit, because the engineering of the new lead — in addition to providing flexibility and programming and directionality and stimulation — the design is much better than the lead that it replaces. It’s much easier to use in the operating room. It's easier to implant. It has a lower profile when it's implanted, and it's less fragile."
In the future, he expects the technology to be able to respond automatically to the abnormal brain signals in real time, sending more or less stimulation as needed.