National Chiao Tung University and the Chang Gung Linkou Hospital teamed up to develop a "intelligent adaptive closed-loop deep brain stimulation system" using chips developed by the TSMC process to give personalized electrical stimulation signals to patients with Parkinson’s disease. It not only prolongs battery life and reduces treatment costs, but also improves efficacy by 35%.
Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases in the elderly. Early-stage patients with Parkinson''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s disease can be treated with drugs, and within 5 years is the honeymoon period, but after more than 5 years, the efficacy of the drugs will also deteriorate. Therefore, the medical community will clinically recommend "traditional deep brain stimulation therapy" for patients with intermediate and advanced stages. Electrodes are implanted in the brain to perform continuous and undifferentiated electrical stimulation. However, there are still limited therapeutic effects and excessive power consumption and other shortcomings.
With the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology "Taiwan Brain Technology Development and International Leap Forward Project", Ming-Dou Ker, a professor at the Institute of Electronics, National Chiao Tung University, and Chiung-Chu Chen, a movement disorder physician at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, formed a cross-disciplinary research team to develop a "intelligent adaptive closed-loop deep brain stimulation system" by using chips developed by the TSMC process. Determines the timing of the release of electrical stimulation based on the unique physiological signals in the brain of patients with Parkinson''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s disease.
Chiung-Chu Chen said that Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has cooperated with Oxford University in the United Kingdom in the past to find out biomarkers by analyzing the patient''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s deep brain signals, and then make the stimulator give personalized stimulation signals according to the patient''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s tremor, slow movement and other clinical symptoms to achieve precise treatment, which also makes the treatment device more energy-efficient.
Chiung-Chu Chen also said that it is currently used on several patients, and the effect is better than traditional treatment. Side effects such as slurred speech and dyskinesia are significantly reduced, with an improvement of 35%.
Ming-Dou Ker explained that in the intelligent adaptive deep brain stimulation system, the team used TSMC’s semiconductor manufacturing process to develop a "micro-forward system single chip". Not only the chip volume is only the size of a rice grain, but also the power consumption is only 1/2 of the original, so that the battery run-time can be longer than before, which effectively improves computing performance.
The cost of the traditional deep brain stimulation system is about NT$1 million, and the health insurance subsidy is about 90%. The patient needs to replace one battery every 4 or 5 years, and the cost of a battery replacement is NT$400 to 500 thousands. Chiung-Chu Chen said that according to statistics from the National Health Insurance Administration last year, patients in Taiwan spent more than NT$100 million on batteries. Through the new stimulation system, the battery can be used for longer, which is expected to reduce the burden on patients.
Ming-Dou Ker said that the intelligent adaptive closed-loop deep brain stimulation system is currently undergoing animal experiments with mini-pigs to verify safety and functionality. It is expected to apply for human clinical trials and will take about 3 to 5 years to commercialize.