Electrical stimulation of the basal ganglia [e.g., the same structure that demonstrates abnormal physiology in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients] relieves many of the motor symptoms of the disease. The treatment involves the placement of a permanent electrode in the basal ganglia as well as of a brain pacemaker that is placed under the skin of the chest and provides the power needed to produce electrical stimulation to the electrode inside the brain. Typically, the electrode incorporates four contacts that can provide various types of electrical stimuli. Therefore, there are many ways in which a physician can stimulate the brain using one electrode. The effect of the electrical stimulation on the motor symptoms of PD is almost immediate. Involuntary hand tremors can stop at once, the patients often get better control of their gait, and their quality of life improves. Today, deep brain stimulation for PD, and for other neurological movement disorders, is a routine procedure with proven benefits. Moreover, its applications for additional neurological and psychiatric disorders are under extensive investigation with promising results for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and epilepsy, among others.

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