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.
Note: The following article and the film shown are in German.
Im Film »Wie hilft Ultraschall gegen Alzheimer« wird spannend unsere Transkranielle Pulsstimulation (TPS) vorgestellt.
Also das moderne Therapieverfahren zur Behandlung von Alzheimer-Demenz durch die Stimulation verschiedener Gehirnregionen.
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.
In early January 2022, a study on the development of global dementia prevalence published by the medical journal The Lancet Public Health1 received a lot of attention. The study predicts that the number of cases will triple to 152.8 million by 2050.The World Alzheimer Report 2019 already came to a similar assessment. The most important factors for this explosive development are the ageing of the global population and its further growth.
