Low-Frequency Motor Thalamus DBS Boosts Word Intelligibility 8-20% in Single TBI Case
Low-frequency DBS of the motor thalamus produced clinically meaningful, session-consistent gains in speech and swallow metrics for one TBI patient. The finding extends the group’s prior neuromodulation work but rests on preliminary, open-label data. Larger controlled trials are required to confirm efficacy and safety.
The study remains limited by n=1 for the TBI cohort, absence of long-term functional communication scores, and no sham-control phase. Next steps require a multi-center feasibility trial enrolling 15-20 moderate-to-severe TBI patients with dysarthria, incorporating standardized intelligibility measures, videofluoroscopic swallow studies, and 6-month retention testing to establish durability and optimal duty-cycle parameters.
Pirondini et al.: A 20-patient phase II trial will report mean intelligibility gains above 12% at 6 months in at least 60% of participants.
Sources (2)
- [1]Primary Source(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49231-4)
- [2]Supporting Source(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37845678)