Deep brain stimulation has eased the symptoms of Parkinson's disease for decades, but the rigid electrodes used today are based on designs roughly thirty years old, and small placement errors can cause troubling side effects. Researchers at Lund University's Neuronano Research Center, led by Professor Jens Schouenborg, have spent two decades developing an alternative: soft, tissue-friendly electrodes designed to stimulate small, precisely defined groups of nerve cells without scarring the surrounding brain.
The system, called High Definition Brain Stimulation, deploys thirty electrodes, each thinner than a strand of hair, guided into position by dissolvable gelatine threaded with microchannels. Weak electrical signals stimulate candidate targets while patients report what they feel, allowing surgeons to build a three-dimensional map of the individual brain before a permanent electrode is placed. A clinical trial at Skåne University Hospital, supervised by neurosurgeon Hjalmar Bjartmarz, will enrol up to twelve patients with Parkinson's disease or essential tremor.
The study is an early feasibility trial, and its first task is to show that the approach is safe and practical in humans. If the mapping concept works as the team's animal studies suggest, it could sharpen the precision of deep brain stimulation and reduce the side effects that follow from imperfect electrode placement. The researchers see longer-term potential in conditions ranging from Alzheimer's disease to treatment-resistant hypertension, though such applications remain speculative until clinical evidence accumulates.