Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research 

Kunal Gupta, MD, PhD and Amol Yadav, PhD had a paper accepted in the journal Neurosurgery: "Globus pallidus interna and ventral intermediate nucleus of the thalamus deep brain stimulation for adductor laryngeal dystonia: case report of blinded analyses of objective voice outcomes in two patients.” Laryngeal dystonia (also known as spasmodic dysphonia) is a group of debilitating voice disorders for which there are currently no persistently effective long-term treatments. Patients with this group of disorders experienced a range of troublesome vocal symptoms, including voice breaks, breathiness and tremor. In a multi-disciplinary collaborative study involving Indiana University School of Medicine Neurological Surgery, Neurology, Otolaryngology and ISCBIRG investigators, two patients were implanted with deep brain stimulation electrodes, stimulating structures deep in the brain. Advanced vocal analyses demonstrated that different components of voice disruption can be differentially targeted with deep brain stimulation of either the thalamus or the pallidum. These key findings represent the first steps in using a personalized medicine approach to treating patients with these debilitating vocal symptoms. The collaborative research team is building on these findings with a larger clinical trial. Patients, potential collaborators and interested scientists are welcome to contact the clinical deep brain stimulation service in the departments of neurosurgery and neurology to learn more about deep brain stimulation and potential trial enrollment.