IEEE Future Directions
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It is well known that electrical fields affect the working of the brain, by interfering with the electrical fields generated by the neurones. Scientists have proved over and over that stimulating specific area of the brain leads to a change in the behaviour. Advances have been made in deep brain stimulation to control epilepsy, as an example.
The problem with electrical stimulation of the brain is that it is very difficult to deliver the stimulation to exactly the target area without affecting nearby area with undesirable effects. So far the approach has been to insert electrodes, through intracranial surgery, to bring the signal right to the area where stimulation has to take place.
This procedure is not satisfactory for at least three reasons: first it requires surgery with potential risk of damaging nearby neurones when inserting the electrode, second there may be infections deriving from the procedure and third the brain is a dynamic system, hence the stimulation may no longer be effective after a while since the brain in the meantime has changed its topology.
Now researchers at the MIT in cooperation with Beth’s Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and the IT’IS Foundation have found an alternative solution: generating electrical signals and having them interfering at the right place in the brain to affect its electrical activity.
The method is not invasive, all that is required is to place a few electrodes on the scalp. By finely tuning the electrical signals emitted by these electrodes through a computer (and changing the frequency, intensity and position of the electrodes) it is possible to create an electrical stimulation in the deep brain to affect the target area. Each individual signal is too weak to affect the brain tissue it flows through, but at the target point all signals converge and interfere creating an electrical field that has the right power to interact with the local neuronal electrical field.
Deep brain stimulation is being used to control epilepsy, obsessive compulsive disorders, depression. Lately is also being experimented to treat conditions like autisms, although it is too early to derive conclusions on its effectiveness. Clearly, the possibility of performing deep brain stimulation through a non invasive procedures allows much better experimentations and researchers hope that this technique will allow faster progress in treating these and other brain pathologies, including Parkinson disease.
