Monday, February 04, 2008

Let's try deep brain stimulation


A reader c sent me this article on deep brain stimulation. It's an interesting tool which leads to clear improvements in many LaTourette and Parkinson sufferers. Its main effect is inhibition of electric activity of neurons locally. Maybe we should try it with stuttering, though I am not sure which region to stab!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus reversibly deteriorates stuttering in advanced Parkinson's disease.

Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Cologne, Germany. lburghaus@gmx.de

The etiology of developmental stuttering is still unknown. In some patients, stuttering re-emerges or is aggravated with the onset of Parkinson's disease (PD). We here report on a patient with PD treated by deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus and severe deterioration of stuttering under effective stimulation. Positron emission tomography (PET) of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in stimulation on- and off-conditions showed overactivation of cerebral and cerebellar motor systems during speech activation and was in line with recent PET studies investigating brain activation during stuttering. The abnormal rCBF pattern increased in the stimulation on-condition and was associated with a marked worsening of stuttering. Clinical and imaging findings in this patient support the hypothesis that the basal ganglia circuitry plays an important role in the pathophysiology of stuttering.

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Anonymous said...

Thalamic-Induced Stuttering (Surgical Observations)

Department of Neurosurgery University of Mississippi Medical Center

Repetitive dysfluencies of speech were elicited by mechanical perturbation of the thalamus in a patient, preparatory to therapeutic lesion placement for chronic pain...

Anonymous said...

Broca s Area Probably since according to new study , they linked reduced cerebral blood flow in broca area in stutterers. The more severe the stuttering the lesser the blood flow. Im from future , 2018 btw lol��