Deep brain stimulation studies in Alzheimer's disease pose ethical challenges
Does the patient still have the capacity to make an informed decision half way through the trial? Are there any misconceptions about its therapeutic benefit? Will the device remain after the trial ends, and who will pay for it? posed. These are the questions posed in an ethics review piece that also lays out guidelines for investigators to consider when enrolling Alzheimer's patients in DBS trials. The article is authored Andrew M. Siegel, MD, an assistant professor of Clinical Psychiatry i n the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Marna S. Barrett, PhD, an adjunct associate professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Penn, and Mahendra T. Bhati, MD, a former assistant professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Penn, who is now at Stanford University, in an ethics review piece that also lays out guidelines for investigators to consider when enrolling Alzheimer's patients in DBS trials. Approved for the treatment of movement and neuropsychiatric disorders, ...