Improved Electrode Material for Deep Brain Stimulation

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the United States, over 100,000 deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices have been implanted to date for treatment of basic tremor, Parkinson's disease and dystonia, and clinical trials are underway to evaluate indications for chronic pain, severe depression, migraines and dimentia. DBS devices belong to a class of devices called implantable electrical stimulators, and close to 1 Million of these devices are implanted annually. These devices use electrodes in contact withtissue to deliver electrical pulses to targeted cells, to elicit specific therapeutic responses. Devices must be replaced as batteries wear down, thus improvements in device efficiency will extend device lifetime and reduce the number of replacement surgeries. While effective in many cases, DBS shows limited effectiveness in others and also has side effects. Preclinical studies predict that DBS arrays comprised of many densely packed, small electrodes can precisely target brain stem region to improve