Introduction

This information is for people who have multiple sclerosis. It tells you about deep brain stimulation, a treatment for multiple sclerosis.

We haven't looked at the research on deep brain stimulation in as much detail as we've looked at the research on most of the treatments we cover. (To read more, see Our Method.) But we've included some information because you may have heard of this treatment or be interested in it.

What is it?

If you have multiple sclerosis, you may get movements you can't control. You may get a tremor, which is when part of your body shakes. Or you may get spasms, which is when your muscles twitch. Drugs can help some people with these problems. But if drugs don't help you, you may be able to try an operation called deep brain stimulation. An electrical device, a bit like a pacemaker, is put inside your body. It sends an electric current to your brain to try to stop your movement problems.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the government body that advises doctors about which treatments should be available on the NHS, has published guidelines for doctors about deep brain stimulation. The guidelines say that deep brain stimulation works well enough and is safe enough to be used by the NHS.^[118]

However, deep brain stimulation isn't suitable for everyone. A team of specialist doctors will need to do tests to see if it can help you.

Before your operation, you'll have detailed scans of your brain taken. You'll either have a CT scan or an MRI scan. These scans let your doctors find out which part of your brain is causing your movement problems.

The operation can be done with a general anaesthetic to make you sleep. Or you may have a local anaesthetic to numb the area where the operation takes place.

During the operation, the surgeon makes a small hole in your skull. A wire is put into the part of your brain that's causing your movement problems. The wire runs under your skin to a battery pack. The battery pack is also put under your skin, usually at the front of your chest near your collarbone. You might need a second operation to put in the battery pack. The battery is about the size of a pack of cards. Electrical signals travel from the battery to your brain.

How can it help?

There isn't much research on how well deep brain stimulation helps people with multiple sclerosis.^[118] Some studies found that people had less shaking after their operation. But the improvement may not have been big enough to make doing everyday things any easier.

People still had less shaking one or two years after their operation. But we don't know how well this operation works in the long term.^[118]

The kind of care you get after your operation may affect how well deep brain stimulation works.^[118] You can continue taking drugs to help control your movements after you've had the operation.