Here & #039;s the Secret Behind Boston Scientific & #039;s New DBS Device

Unlike traditional deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems that are built from pacemaker technology, Boston Scientific's Vercise DBS is modeled from cochlear implant technology and the precise stimulation of auditory nerves it uses to replicate hearing. The device is now FDA approved for the treatment of Parkinson's disease symptoms, the company announced this week. "The cochlear implant technology, when you think about it, is really designed and engineered to precisely stimulate the auditory nerves to produce a sense of hearing," Maulik Nanavaty, a senior vice president at Boston Scientific and president of the company's neuromodulation business, told MD+DI. "It's not just listening to a certain tone, but if you're listening to music you can hear everything, not just a single tone." Nanavaty said that traditional DBS technology stemmed from pacemaker technology. That means it had a single source of power and was designed to stimulate the muscle, he said.  So even though the lead gets placed in the target area where physicians are trying to stimulate, the stimulation is still coming from a single source of power. By building the Vercise DBS on cochlear implant technology, the device is able to precisely stimulate the area that needs stimulation in order to optimize the therapy, Nanavaty said. "The reason that's so important is that the real estate of your brain is worse than Manhattan, so you want to be able to go and just stimulate the area you want to stimulate and minimiz...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Implants Source Type: news