The Society for CNS Interstitial Delivery of Therapeutics is a non-profit, educational, and scientific organization that was founded in 2007. The Society promotes research, education, and public awareness for improving the delivery of therapeutic drugs to the brain and other areas of the human central nervous system.

As the brain is protected by the blood-brain-barrier from molecules that circulate in the bloodstream, circumventing this barrier to enable more and different therapeutic agents to enter the brain is of critical importance for successfully treating a large variety of neurodegenerative and neuro-neoplastic diseases. In the recent decades it has however become increasingly obvious that neither the power of biotechnology nor the capabilities of medical devices are sufficient to overcome the limitations of delivering drugs to the brain.

The researchers organized in SCIDOT are convinced that new routes of drug delivery to the brain can be identified and developed for clinical application.

Modified from the SCIDOT website

Prof. Chris Lind attended the first annual international meeting of SCIDOT in Cleveland, Ohio this September to discuss research into convection-enhanced delivery with other neurosurgeons, scientists and engineers. 

ABC Catalyst Programme: Deep Brain Stimulation

After being diagnosed with a devastating neurological disease called Generalised Dystonia, Perth man Luke Wilmot became confined to a wheelchair for most of his teenage years. As a result, Luke was robbed of the simple things in life; like having a job, playing footy or getting his license. At times he felt like dying.

Read the transcript or watch the video online at the ABC site.

How a Tiny Electrode can Change People's Lives

Wired Magazine and PBS brings you an interested piece on Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) from a patient's perspective. Includes video. Please note that there are some technological differences with our work.

View the story at the PBS website.

The Surgical NeuroDiscovery Group has largely moved from the awake macroelectrode stimulation technique for implanting deep brain stimulators to the MRI-directed guide tube technique of Professor Steven Gill of the Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, UK. The advantages of the technique include more reproducible and accurate positioning of electrode contacts in brain structures that can be seen more clearly with prolonged MRI under general anaesthesia. We have both BrainLab and Medtronic Stealth planning systems for the creation of three-dimensional plans for each electrode contact and to avoid blood vessels along the surgical trajectory.

The use of the MRI-directed guide tube technique means that clients undergoing surgery no longer need to be awake for the procedure in most cases. The technique includes MRI with an MRI-compatible headframe under general anaesthesia, MRI sequences with optimised signal-to-noise ratio, MRI distortion correction, constant irrigation during surgery to obviate brain shift during surgery, and MRI verification of stylette and thus electrode position in the brain. This technique should lend itself to adaptation to stereotactically implanting microcatheters for targeted drug or gene therapy in the future.

We have a strong collaboration with members of the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Medical Physics Department, Department of Radiology and Neurological Intervention and Imaging Service of WA on the imaging side of the procedure. Mr Gary Swann and Ms Anne Winsor work together to lead a team of dedicated MITs to perfect MR imaging for DBS surgery.

See a description of Professor Gill's original technique in the following publication:

Magnetic resonance imaging-directed method for functional neurosurgery using implantable guide tubes.

Patel NK, Plaha P, Gill SS.

Neurosurgery. 2007 Nov;61(5 Suppl 2):358-65; discussion 365-6.

Figure: Neurosurgical registrar Dr Ivan Bhaskar and Fellow Dr Arul Bala at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital preparing a stereotactic device for deep brain stimulation surgery.