Clinical perspectives of adaptive deep brain stimulation

Background: The application of stimulators implanted directly over deep brain structures (i.e., deep brain stimulation, DBS) was developed in the late 1980s and has since become a mainstream option to treat several neurological conditions. Conventional DBS involves the continuous stimulation of the target structure, which is an approach that cannot adapt to patients’ changing symptoms or functional status in real-time. At the beginning of 2000, a more sophisticated form of stimulation was conceived to overcome these limitations. Adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) employs on-demand, contingency-based stimulation to stimulate only when needed. So far, aDBS has been tested in several pathological conditions in animal and human models. Objective: To review the current findings obtained from application of aDBS to animal and human models that highlights effects on motor, cognitive and psychiatric behaviors. Findings: while aDBS has shown promising results in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and essential tremor, the possibility of its use in less common DBS indications, such as cognitive and psychiatric disorders (Alzheimer's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder) is still challenging. Conclusions: While aDBS seems to be effective to treat movement disorders (Parkinson's disease and essential tremor), its role in cognitive and psychiatric disorders is to be determined, although neurophysiological assumptions are promising.