Baylor Medicine sits at the forefront in the medical and surgical treatment of essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and Tourette syndrome using deep brain stimulation or DBS. Our surgical team has experience in a broad range of techniques to provide the most individualized care. This includes extensive experience with "frameless" DBS, "asleep" DBS, image-guided DBS using both intraoperative MRI and intraoperative CT, and the most advanced electrophysiological equipment to ensure the best possible outcome.
Our neurosurgeons work together with other Baylor Medicine physicians to provide truly individualized, comprehensive care to our patients. Our multidisciplinary, collaborative DBS team DBS team includes experts:
- Neurology
- Psychiatry
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Psychology
- Neuropsychology
We also have an active research program studying brain function in movement disorders to help shape the next generation of technology for DBS.
DBS for Movement Disorders
In conjunction with the Parkinson's Disease Center and Movement Disorders Clinic at Baylor Medicine, our neurosurgeons have been offering and managing DBS therapy for patients with a variety of movement disorders since the 1990s. While our program has managed over 600 DBS cases since that time, our current database of patients consists of over 300 individuals with this therapy who are actively followed. We implant new DBS systems in patients on a weekly basis. We evaluate existing patients as well as those referred by other physicians for consideration of this treatment.
- Parkinson’s disease
- Essential tremor
- Dystonia
- Tourette syndrome
DBS for Neuropsychiatric Disorders
In addition to expertise in movement disorders, through collaboration with our internationally renowned Baylor Medicine Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavior Science, we are the first center in the South Central United States to use DBS in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder and medication resistant depression.
Though DBS is the procedure of choice for many patients with neuropsychiatric challenges, for some, other minimally invasive techniques may be appropriate including thalamotomy, pallidotomy, capsulotomy, stereotactic radiosurgery, and laser interstitial thermal therapy, all of which Baylor Medicine offers its patients.