2025-10-09 ゲーテ大学
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<関連情報>
- https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/english/patient-treatment-shows-brain-pacemaker-helps-with-stuttering/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094730X2500049X
持続性発達性吃音に対する左視床深部脳刺激療法 Left thalamic deep brain stimulation for persistent developmental stuttering
Christian A. Kell, Nils Warneke, Verena Zentsch, Johannes Kasper, Melanie Vauth-Weidig, Tobias Warnecke, Katrin Neumann
Journal of Fluency Disorders Available online: 13 August 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfludis.2025.106147
Highlights
- This is the first report of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the intention to treat stuttering.
- Left thalamic DBS reduced stuttering frequency by more than 50 %.
- Quality of life improved by 38 %.
- The neuromodulatory effect scaled with stimulation intensity.
- These results suggest DBS as a new treatment option for severe stuttering.
Abstract
Background and purpose
Persistent developmental stuttering is a frequent speech fluency disorder that can considerably reduce quality of life. Because available therapies do not always provide satisfying results, new therapeutic approaches are needed. The anomalous cerebral speech network in persons who stutter provides substrate for neuromodulation. We report here the effectiveness of deep brain stimulation (DBS) used for the first time to treat stuttering.
Methods
A 24-year-old male who stuttered severely since childhood received chronic left ventral intermediate thalamic nucleus electrical stimulation following a patient- and examiners-blinded two-year stimulation protocol. Stuttering frequency was determined as percent stuttered syllables and stuttering severity using the Stuttering Severity Instrument – 4th edition (SSI-4). The Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering – Adults (OASES-A) questionnaire quantified the patient’s self-evaluated experience of stuttering and quality of life.
Results
The average stuttering frequency decreased by 46 % postoperatively and the stuttering severity by 29 %. The maximal achieved reduction of stuttering frequency was 62 % and of stuttering severity 39 %; self-assessment of stuttering improved by 38 %. Stuttering frequency was negatively associated with DBS stimulation frequency, demonstrating a biological stimulation effect beyond any potential placebo effects. Stuttering responded to stimulation parameter changes with a lag of several weeks, pointing to a rather slow modulatory than direct suppressive effect of deep brain stimulation on stuttering.
Conclusion
These results suggest deep brain stimulation as a new treatment option for severe stuttering and warrant further systematic exploration in a series of people who stutter.
