Simpler and Safer Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease

The aim is to improve availability and acceptability of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of Parkinson by shortening and simplifying the implantation procedure, thereby reducing time in surgery, complexity, post-surgery complications and cost, and increasing patient satisfaction. To facilitate the shortening and simplifying of the implantation procedure, a miniaturised skull-mounted DBS device (Picostim) has been developed which is optimised to generate waveforms needed for stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and STN region, employing a unique method of controlling stimulation current. The planned study is a single centre, open label, non-randomised design with the primary objective of showing similarity in control of motor symptoms for the Picostim device compared with previously published data for existing DBS devices.