Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

• Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) uses a small medical device that manages and treats seizures at their source. We implant the device in your child’s brain to reduce seizures and improve their quality of life.
• DBS delivers controlled electrical stimulation directly to specific areas in your child’s brain. The device delivers stimulation to help control seizures.

• DBS is designed for patients whose seizures start on 1 side of the brain and then affect the entire brain (partial-onset seizures, with or without secondary generalization) and seizures that don’t respond to anti-seizure medicines.
• We may recommend DBS in addition to seizure medicines (called adjunctive treatment).

• Your child’s provider will order a series of tests referred to as a Phase 1 evaluation. These tests are useful in learning about your child’s brain and seizures.
• After Phase 1 testing is complete, your child’s provider will let you know if DBS is a good treatment option for your child.

• We implant the DBS device and wires in an operating room in a 2-step process. We will give your child medicine (anesthesia), so they are fully asleep during the surgery.
• We place the DBS device under your child’s skin in the upper chest or abdomen. You cannot see the device after it is implanted.
• The neurosurgeon then makes a small hole in your child’s skull. We place small electrodes through this hole into the target area in the brain. We pass a tiny wire under the neck skin and scalp, then connect the DBS device to the brain electrodes.

Your child will stay in the hospital for up to 2 days and then return home.

• A few weeks after surgery, a doctor who specializes in epilepsy (epileptologist) will turn the device on and adjust the stimulation settings. 
• We program the device with a small computer tablet.
• It will take several clinic visits to program the device settings and find the right setting for your child.
• Your child’s provider will monitor how your child is doing very closely.

The patient programmer is a device like a smartphone. With help from your child’s provider, this programmer will allow you to:

• Turn the device on and off 
• Track seizures
• Adjust stimulation at home
• Check the device’s battery
• Turn it off for MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging)

Your child may:

• Feel numb or tingling in their head
• Feel dizzy
• Have mood changes
• Have trouble sleeping
• Have memory problems
• Have an increase in seizures

This implanted device affects the ability to safely have an MRI. If your child needs an MRI, a provider needs to program the DBS device into a protective mode. Please call your child’s epilepsy provider before your child gets an MRI.

You can read more:

• Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) – Epilepsy Foundation
  epilepsy.com/learn/treating-seizures-and-epilepsy/devices/deep-brainstimulation-dbs
• DBS Therapy for Epilepsy - Medtronic
  medtronic.com/content/dam/medtroniccom/global/Patients/Documents/dbs-epilepsy-patient-brochure.pdf