Personalized electrode placement may improve outcomes of deep brain stimulation

A team of researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis (MO, USA) have determined that the positioning of functional brain networks vary on an individual basis. They suggest that electrode placement during deep brain stimulation (DBS) needs to be personalized to the patient. DBS can often vary in effectiveness, with some patients receiving symptomatic relief and others experiencing adverse side effects. The authors of this paper, which has been published in Neuron, hope that in the future, their work will help neurosurgeons optimize the placement of DBS electrodes in patients with Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive...