"Neurosurgeons at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix are involved with testing the viability of deep brain stimulation DBS to treat Alzheimers disease a disorder that currently has few treatment options. Results from the Phase  study reported in the Journal of Neurosurgery on Dec.   demonstrated the safety of DBS in Alzheimers patients. A neurosurgical procedure in which an implanted neurostimulator delivers electrical signals to specific areas of the brain to help regulate abnormal signals DBS is currently only approved in the U.S. for the treatment of Parkinsons disease and essential tremor. However its use is being researched for a number of conditions including epilepsy depression and bipolar disorder. Francisco Ponce MD Director of the Barrow Center for Neuromodulation believes there are potential applications for Alzheimers disease  the most common form of dementia  as well. Whereas in Parkinsons disease and essential tremor the target for the electrodes are nodes within the motor circuits the Alzheimers study targeted the fornix which is part of the memory pathway. There are more than five million Americans living with Alzheimers and yet there are few promising pharmacologic treatment options for this progressive disease says Dr. Ponce. Previous pilot studies researching the use of DBS in Alzheimers have indicated the potential to slow cognitive decline in some patients and have even shown metabolic changes in the brain that may slow the progression of the disease. Barrow Neurological Institute is part of Dignity Health St. Josephs Hospital in Phoenix. The ADvance Trial using a device from Functional Neuromodulation Inc. is aimed at evaluating the safety efficacy and tolerability of DBS in this patient population. Initial research took place between  and  at six hospitals throughout the U.S. including Banner Alzheimers Institute in Phoenix and Banner Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City as well as one institution in Canada. During the trial  patients with mild Alzheimers disease underwent the surgical procedure and were closely monitored for adverse effects. Overall there were no programmingrelated adverse effects unanticipated adverse device effects reported neurological deficits or instances of mortality in the study population. Adverse effects such as headache and infection occurred in .  of  of the patients in this study consistent with rates reported in other DBS trials. The first phase of this study was designed to evaluate the day postoperative safety of this particular surgical method. While the study was relatively small we believe the data suggest that DBS surgery targeting the fornix can be performed safely in this patient population. The hope is that our positive surgical experience will help pave the way for future research into DBS and Alzheimers says Dr. Ponce. Dr. Ponce adds that the next step is evaluating the efficacy and longerterm safety of the treatment which will not be known until the last patient completes the twoyear evaluation later this year."