• Universitat de València
• Foundation for research at the La Fe University Hospital in Valencia

• Antonio Gutiérrez Martín
• Irene Martínez Torres

Currently, patients with neurological diseases related to movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, suffer from symptoms such as tremor, stiffness, stiffness, stiffness, slow movement and walking problems. A group of these patients do not respond to pharmacological therapies, and one treatment option for them may be the implantation of electrodes through surgery with the Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) technique in order to eliminate these symptoms. DBS is applied in Parkinson's disease using the subthalamic nucleus, which covers an area of approximately 2-5 mm. Its small size makes the implantation of chronic electrodes critical, and depends entirely on the expertise of the neurologist/neurophysiologist. The main problem is, therefore, the correct localisation of the stimulation electrode. For this reason, a microelectrode recording is obtained at different points along the implant trajectory, which allows the neuronal activity in each area to be analysed. Generally, the interpretation of the micro-recording is carried out by the neurosurgeon during the intervention. Due to the complexity of the signals obtained and the inter-patient variability, this interpretation involves a certain margin of error.

Research staff from the Universitat de València (UV) in collaboration with researchers from the Research Foundation of the La Fe University Hospital in Valencia have developed a new programme called DBScan which is a tool to help in brain stimulation surgery applied to Parkinson's disease. It allows information to be obtained about the target area and the optimal final position of the deep stimulation electrode from the processing of the registration signal with microelectrodes for the optimal application of the deep brain stimulation technique.

The new programme would be applicable in the field of medical equipment for functional neurosurgery of movement disorders. It would add greater functionality, precision and optimisation of results to this equipment, complementing conventional micro-registration equipment. In addition to the treatment of Parkinson's disease, it could also be applied to other pathologies in which DBS is used as a symptomatic therapy, such as epilepsy.

The main advantages provided by the invention are:

• Optimisation of the area where the electrode is implanted.
• Greater precision in the localisation of the implant due to the optimum interpretation of the registers.
• Clinical benefit for the patient due to the appropriate positioning of the implant and therefore minimisation of adverse effects.

• Registered intellectual property