A child sits at the piano, mashing keys.
It's an effective method in making the instrument do something, anything. It's just not music. Not yet.
Later, after years of learning and practice, that same child sits at the piano. They mash some keys. They delicately touch others. They do so with precision and artistry, the piano pouring forth the beautiful music it was intended for.
That understanding — making a machine play the right way at the right time — is where Abbott has gone with our cutting-edge, industry-leading St. Jude Medical Infinity™ DBS System.
Abbott’s deep brain stimulation (DBS) system for the management of Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor is the first available in the U.S. today with directional leads consisting of eight electrodes, of which two are segmented. Any segment of can be switched on and off as needed to direct therapy effectively.
With this capability, doctors can more accurately steer electrical current toward targeted areas of the brain to lessen symptoms such as tremors.
The results can be life changing.
Think of the signals in your brain as a concerto. Today, it's Tchaikovsky. Tomorrow, maybe it's Mozart. Chopin the next day. With help from your doctor's orchestration, you choose the stimulation best suited for you.
Each electrode can be switched on — and off — through your doctor's iPad™, and stimulation can be increased or decreased by your iPod™. By incorporating an iPod into the system's operation, we're empowering people living with Parkinson's and essential tremor through a familiar, easy interface that carries with it none of the stigmas of previous systems.
"The wireless technology offers a massive benefit in treatment because you can program leads while patients complete activities, which is important in Parkinson's," said Dr. Allen Burton, medical director of neuromodulation at Abbott. "If desired, therapy tweaks can be made as they walk, allowing doctors to watch their gait from across the room, for example."
Anyone living with or caring for someone with Parkinson’s or essential tremor understands the good days and the not good days. They also have first-hand experience when medications begin to lose their effectiveness, when the music stops.
With St. Jude Medical Infinity™ DBS System, people are hitting the high notes of their lives again. Encore, encore.
FOLLOW ABBOTT