A Pacemaker For Your Brain

By:Ryan Buckley

What is a Pacemaker For The Brain?

• Similar to a heart pacemakers• Implanted in chest• Electrical stimulation to maintain rhythm in

the heart

• Brain pacemakers:• Electrode permanently implanted in brain• Used to maintain neural equilibrium• Electric pulses

Problems Being Solved

• Already proven to help treat/prevent certain diseases or ailments• Parkinson’s Disease• Depression• Epilepsy• Anorexia

• The pacemaker effectively reorganizes the brains impulses

How Are They Inserted?

• Neurosurgeon drills a dime-sized hole in skull

• An electrode is then inserted 4 inches into the brain

• A wire then runs under the skin to a battery

• The battery is implanted in the chest, either underneath the collarbone or even abdomen

Methods

• Medical devices are surgically implanted into specific parts of the body

• Depending on the disorder, the location of the electrodes vary• Non-Parkinsonian essential tremor – thalamus• Dystonia – globus pallidus internus• OCD – Nucleus Accumbens

• A remote then controls the electric pulses sent by pacemaker

Limitations• Surgery

• Minimum of 5 hours• Anything can happen

• Cost ($30,000 - $50,000)

• Recovery time in patients

• Possibility that devices/wires may malfunction

Future

• Smaller medical equipment• Electrodes• Pacemaker

• Cheaper cost of surgery

• More efficient ways to locate afflicted part of brain

• A permanent fix for brain electrical signals?

References• Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. "First brain pacemaker implanted to treat

Alzheimer's." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 January 2013. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130123164906.htm>.

• Wikipedia: Brain Pacemaker <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_pacemaker>.

• Wikipedia: Deep Brain Stimulation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_brain_stimulation>.

• Loyola University Health System. "'Brain pacemaker' effective for years against Parkinson's disease." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 June 2012. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120620162426.htm>.

• Price, Michael. "SCIENCE W A TCH: A Pacemaker for Y our Brain?" Http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web.

• News, CBC. "Brain 'pacemakers' Promising for Anorexia Treatment." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.

• "Brain Pacemakers | MIT Technology Review." MIT Technology Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.

• "First Brain Pacemaker Implanted to Treat Alzheimer's." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.