Electrical stimulation to the lower spine has improved the mobility of a man with Parkinson’s disease for the past two years, but researchers say larger clinical trials are needed to assess the device
A highly experimental implant that delivers electrical stimulation to the spinal cord has substantially improved mobility for one man with advanced Parkinson’s disease, according to a report published today in Nature Medicine.
But with only one individual tested, it remains unclear whether the approach will work for other people with the disease. The next step “would be to do a randomized, controlled trial,” says Susan Harkema, a neuroscientist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky who works on stimulation therapy in people with spinal cord injuries.
The Swiss group instead implanted the neuroprosthesis in the lower back, over the lumbosacral spinal cord. There, the stimulation activates the network of neurons running between the spinal cord and the leg muscles. The team had successfully applied the strategy in people with paralysis from spinal cord injury and reasoned that it could be adapted to Parkinson’s.
Larger studies needed Whether Courtine’s strategy is the way forward for spinal cord stimulation in Parkinson’s is unclear. “There’s not enough data in this paper to conclude that this approach will be better than current standard treatments,” Harkema says. Dozens of studies have tested whether spinal cord stimulation can improve gait in people with Parkinson’s, but most examine only a few participants, so the efficacy of the treatment remains uncertain.
Spinal Cord Implant Mobility Parkinson's Disease Experimental Treatment
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