The UF Health Center for Movement Disorders & Neurorestoration and the UF Digital Worlds Institute have developed a mobile app for clinicians that will assist them in assessing the battery life of patients’ deep brain stimulator devices.
“During the past several years, we have implanted nearly 1,000 of these devices at UF Heath and have studied short- and long-term benefits and side effects,” said Michael S. Okun, M.D., the center’s co-director. “In some cases, battery depletion could lead to rebound of motor symptoms like tremor or dystonia, but in other neuropsychiatric conditions, it could lead to suicide attempts or other devastating consequences.”
Helping plan the replacement of deep brain stimulator batteries before a potential rebound of symptoms is the objective of the app. Clinicians plug in the type of battery and the stimulation settings into the app. It then calculates the approximate number of months the battery should last on those settings.
These calculations can be accessed on our website for those who want to view them in a web browser. If needed, the clinician can see more details about how the calculation occurs. View the web version of the DBS Battery Estimator …