Deep brain stimulation for the treatment of Alzheimer disease and dementias.
OBJECTIVE
To review the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for treatment of dementia.


METHODS
A PubMed literature search was conducted to identify all studies that have investigated the use of DBS for treatment of dementia.


RESULTS
Three studies examined the use of DBS for dementia. One study involved fornix DBS for Alzheimer disease (AD), and two studies involved DBS of the nucleus basalis of Meynert, one to treat AD and one to treat Parkinson disease dementia.


CONCLUSIONS
Evidence for the use of DBS to treat dementia is preliminary and limited. Fornix and nucleus basalis of Meynert DBS can influence activity in the pathologic neural circuits that underlie AD and Parkinson disease dementia. Further investigation into the potential clinical effects of DBS for dementia is warranted.
Division of Neurosurgery, Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Adrian W
AW
Laxton
Andres M
AM
Lozano
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D020532:Basal Nucleus of Meynert / Q000502:physiology; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods*; D003704:Dementia / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D020712:Fornix, Brain / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications