Deep brain stimulation for epilepsy in clinical practice and in animal models

Given the tremendous success of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of movement and neuropsychiatric disorders, clinicians have begun to open up to the possible use of electrical stimulation for the treatment of patients with uncontrolled seizures. DBS of various neural targets has been investigated in clinical studies and animal studies, including the anterior nucleus of thalamus (ANT), cerebellum, hippocampus, subthalamic nucleus (STN), centromedian nucleus of the thalamus (CMT), caudate nucleus (CN). Recently, a large and multicenter trial (SANTE: Stimulation of the Anterior Nucleus of the Thalamus for Epilepsy) was conducted and subsequently with encouraging results, making ANT the most well-established target for DBS in the treatment of epilepsy to date. Here, we endeavor to review mainly the animal studies and clinical studies of ANT DBS to further explore the more reliable target.

► Clinicians have begun to open up to the possible use of DBS for refractory Epilepsy.
► DBS of various neural targets has been investigated in clinical studies and animal studies.
► ANT is a promising and preferable target in seizure control for intractable epilepsy.
► We review mainly the animal studies and clinical studies of ANT DBS for epilepsy.