Stanford’s Casey Halpern and Allen Ho have used deep brain stimulation to target nucleus accumbens, thought to reduce impulsive behavior, to combat alcoholism in animal and pilot human studies.
DBS is used in severe Parkinson’s disease and is not approved by the FDA for addiction. Infection and other complications are risks of this invasive surgery.
ApplySci hopes that strides in behavioral therapy, including Alcoholics Anonymous, will continue to improve outcomes in addicted individuals, diminishing the need for invasive procedures.
The Stanford study was published in Neurosurgical Focus.
Join ApplySci at the 9th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Boston conference on September 24, 2018 at the MIT Media Lab. Speakers include: Rudy Tanzi – Mary Lou Jepsen – George Church – Roz Picard – Nathan Intrator – Keith Johnson – Juan Enriquez – John Mattison – Roozbeh Ghaffari – Poppy Crum – Phillip Alvelda –Marom Bikson – Ed Simcox – Sean Lane