© 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. Parkinson's disease deep brain stimulation dopamine neuronal oscillations spinal cord stimulation. The spinal cord can be equally divided along the midline dorsoventral axis by drawing a line through the depression known as the dorsal and ventral median sulci. The term spinal cord stimulation (SCS) describes the electrical stimulation of the dorsal column via electrode arrays implanted in the epidural space of a spinal level associated with a painful dermatome.
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Based on recent evidence, we argue that neurological disorders such as PD can be broadly classified as diseases emerging from abnormal neuronal timing, leading to pathological brain states, and that the spinal cord could be used as a "channel" to transmit therapeutic electrical signals to disrupt these abnormalities. In primates, we have shown that dorsal column stimulation activates multiple structures along the somatosensory pathway and desynchronizes the pathological cortico-striatal oscillations responsible for the manifestation of PD symptoms. Since our initial report in rodents and a more recent study in primates, several clinical studies have now described beneficial effects of dorsal column stimulation in parkinsonian patients. The stimulator produces mild electrical pulses to stimulate the nerves, blocking pain signals. Physicians in the United States have been using spinal cord stimulation (SCS) to treat chronic pain conditions since it was first developed nearly half a century ago. The stimulator is also called a dorsal column stimulator, or DCS. Historically, antidromic activation of the nerve fibers in the dorsal columns has been thought by some to be capable of ‘closing the gate’ resulting in analgesia, while orthodromic activation elicits paresthesias Citation 1. 1 Therefore, we aimed to determine whether SCS is successful in treating intractable pain in a patient with MS and FBSS. Paresthesia-based spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been used for decades to treat chronic pain.
![dorsal column spinal cord stimulation dorsal column spinal cord stimulation](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y4MODW-1M8A/hqdefault.jpg)
![dorsal column spinal cord stimulation dorsal column spinal cord stimulation](https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/687046/fphys-12-687046-HTML/image_m/fphys-12-687046-g001.jpg)
In 2009, our laboratory proposed, based on studies in rodents, that electrical stimulation of the dorsal columns of the spinal cord could become an effective treatment for motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). This surgical procedure involves placing a spinal cord stimulator, or SCS, to treat pain in the back, arms or legs caused by nerve damage or low blood flow. Spinal cord stimulation activates the dorsal column and inhibitory interneurons that attenuate pain.3 Neurostimulation is a known effective treatment for neuropathic pain. Spinal cord stimulation has been used for the treatment of chronic pain for decades.