Home What is DBS? Technology Advances Mental Disorder Treatment Future Work References

St. Jude Medical Company ANS (Advanced Neuromodulation Systems) is seeking volunteers for their BROADEN Clinical Study to identify whether or not a deep brain stimulation system is safe and effective for major depressive disorder.

With several disorders already being regularly treated with DBS, including chronic pain, advances in technology are sure to arrive at a rapid rate. The world's smallest spinal cord stimulator for treating pain received approval from the FDA, and smaller devices are on the horizon.

For DBS to continue to evolve, two previously mentioned areas of focus have to be furthur developed:

1. Understanding the basic mechanism behind DBS. Doing this will allow for patient specific devices and treatment, with the fields of neurochemistry and imaging in the forefront.
2. The DBS device itself must continue to shrink in size so that it can be implanted in a more cosmetically pleasing manner.