16 Fox Focus | Living with Parkinson’ s
Dr. Dolhun Talks PD
Advances in DBS, Psychedelics: What You Need to Know
Rachel Dolhun, MD, DipABLM, is a movement disorder specialist, lifestyle medicine physician and senior vice president of medical communications at MJFF.
UNDERSTANDING THE NEWS can be hard, especially when that news is about a new treatment or an advance in Parkinson’ s disease research. Let’ s take a closer look at recent headlines on deep brain stimulation and psychedelics for PD.
An Advance in Deep Brain Stimulation
Many people have heard about— or undergone— deep brain stimulation( DBS) for Parkinson’ s. This surgical procedure decreases movement symptoms and, often, lowers medication needs by delivering small bursts of electrical stimulation through thin wires implanted in the brain.
In“ continuous” DBS, electrical settings are programmed to you and your unique symptoms; these settings are“ on” 24 / 7. In
February 2025, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first“ adaptive” or self-adjusting DBS. As with continuous DBS, your Parkinson’ s clinician fine-tunes the settings, but programming includes a window of stimulation where the device will automatically adjust stimulation up or down in real time based on what your body needs.
“ It’ s a big step forward, but it’ s just the beginning,” said Helen Bronte-Stewart, MD, MSc, a movement disorder neurologist and DBS researcher at Stanford University.“ The approval of adaptive DBS opens up a realm of new possibilities in research and care.”
Adaptive DBS is currently available through the Medtronic Percept device. Learn more about DBS at www. michaeljfox. org / dbs.
The medical information contained in this newsletter is for general information purposes only. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’ s Research has a policy of refraining from advocating, endorsing or promoting any drug therapy, course of treatment, or specific company or institution. It is crucial that care and treatment decisions related to Parkinson’ s disease and any other medical condition be made in consultation with a physician or other qualified medical professional.