By Susan Young, Technology Review
About 100,000 patients with brain disorders use deep brain stimulators, but the devices sold today don’t respond to fluctuating conditions. A new brain implant that can record neural activity while it simultaneously delivers electric current has been implanted into a patient for the first time. The new device from Medtronic, a Minneapolis-based medical device company, can also adjust its electrical output in response to the changing conditions of the brain. This automated control could one day improve deep-brain stimulation treatment and even enable doctors to use the device to treat more conditions, say experts.
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