In 2018, Transcranial Pulse Stimulation (TPS) with the NEUROLITH® system was the first, and hitherto only, procedure of its kind to obtain market authorization for the »treatment of the central nervous system of patients with Alzheimer’s disease«. The aim of TPS is to boost the cognitive abilities of people with Alzheimer’s dementia by stimulating various regions of the brain and to maintain these abilities for as long as possible. 

The acoustic pulses generated by Transcranial Pulse Stimulation (TPS) have been used successfully in various medical fields (urology, orthopaedics, cardiology….) for decades under the term »extracorporeal shock wave therapy«.

Shock waves are similar to ultrasound. But there is a major difference:

The authors of a follow-up study (published in 2021) investigated the possible benefits of TPS treatment concerning brain morphology, namely the cortical atrophy characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease [1]. They found a significant correlation between neuropsychological improvement and cortical thickness increase in AD-critical brain areas.

One of the highlights of the new NEUROLITH® system is its innovative BodyTrack software – a unique tool for the visualization and control of the TPS pulses applied and of treatment progress. Real-time tracking of the handpiece position enables automatic visualization of the treated regions. The use of personalized MRI data allows specific characteristics of the patient’s brain to be taken into account.

Anfang Januar 2022 wurde in der medizinischen Fachzeitschrift The Lancet Public Health¹ eine vielbeachtete Studie zur Entwicklung der weltweiten Demenz-Prävalenz publiziert. Diese sagt bis zum Jahr 2050 eine Verdreifachung der Fallzahlen auf 152,8 Millionen voraus. Zu einer ähnlichen Einschätzung kam bereits der World Alzheimer Report 2019. Die wichtigsten Faktoren für diese explosive Entwicklung sind die Alterung der weltweiten Bevölkerung sowie deren weiteres Wachstum.