Deep brain stimulation (DBS)
surgery has been performed in over 75,000 people worldwide, and has been shown to be an effective
treatment for
Parkinson's disease,
tremor,
dystonia,
epilepsy,
depression,
Tourette's syndrome, and
obsessive compulsive disorder. We
review current and emerging evidence for the
role of DBS in the management of a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions, and discuss the technical and practical aspects of performing DBS
surgery. In the
future, evolution of DBS
technology may depend on several key areas, including better scientific
understanding of its underlying mechanism of action, advances in high-spatial resolution imaging and development of novel electrophysiological and
neurotransmitter microsensor systems. Such developments could form the basis of an intelligent closed-loop DBS system with
feedback-guided neuromodulation to optimize both
electrode placement and
therapeutic efficacy.