New technique can precisely locate subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson's patients

Published on September 7, 2011 at 7:13 AM

Deep brain stimulation stops limb tremors in Parkinson's patients. But positioning the stimulation electrode in the brain must be done very precisely to avoid undesired side-effects. To make this possible, researcher Ellen Brunenberg of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) has developed a method for precise, external localization of the right part of the brain: the motor area of the subthalamic nucleus. She has found an ingenious way to localize this 'magic area': by using MRI to visualize the pathways in the brain that lead to it. "If you take away the towns and cities on a map, you can still see where they are located from the pattern of the roads", says Brunenberg, who will gain her PhD on Thursday 8 September for her thesis entitled 'Hitting the right target'.