Each patient's journey is unique, and their needs can change over time. Understanding those changes can help inform more personalized therapy decisions throughout the course of care.1,2
Medtronic deep brain stimulation (DBS) is powered by BrainSense™ technology and connected suite of tools — a set of capabilities designed to work together to support clinicians with DBS programming decisions starting on day one and as patient needs evolve.
Connects real-time patient-specific brain signals to support personalized care.
One platform. Connected support.
Brings together sensing-enabled hardware, adaptive technology, and centralized patient data into one connected suite of tools, empowering care teams.
Built around your practice
Gives clinicians the flexibility to start where they are, access the tools they need, and expand into more advanced capabilities over time.
Designed for the future of DBS
Built on an upgradable, connected, platform that helps you incorporate advances in DBS therapy and respond to your patients’ changing needs.
The BrainSense™ suite of tools
Working together to support clinicians and patients
BrainSense™ technology†
The Percept™ family with BrainSense™ technology is the first sensing-enabled DBS system offering insights into a patient’s condition inside and outside of the clinic throughout the patient journey.
The world’s first closed-loop feature for Parkinson's disease
BrainSense™ aDBS automatically adjusts the level of therapeutic stimulation based on patient neurophysiology data in real time, providing more personalized therapy compared to traditional cDBS.
BrainSense™ Electrode Identifier
The BrainSense™ Electrode Identifier feature guides you to the sensing “sweet spot” on the lead, providing a starting point for DBS programming and identification of initial contacts for stimulation delivery.‡
Advanced therapy programming tools
Empowering clinicians to tailor treatment to each patient’s symptoms.
BrainSense™ Timeline
BrainSense™ Events
BrainSense™ Streaming
BrainSense™ Thresholds
What sets Medtronic DBS apart?
Safety
There are risks and benefits of DBS: Risks include surgical complications, infection, failure to deliver therapy as needed and/or worsening of some symptoms.
The safety profile observed for aDBS is consistent with the safety profile for traditional DBS (cDBS). Stimulation-related side effects are expected during initial aDBS setup, such as worsening of Parkinson’s disease symptoms and dyskinesias, and are expected to resolve with reprogramming. It’s important to ensure patients have regular follow up visits to monitor response to therapy, optimize programming, and manage any stimulation-related side effects promptly, especially within aDBS adjustment and set up periods (at least within the first few months of aDBS programming). aDBS is an optional programming feature and may not work for everyone.
BrainSense™ technology is the sensing and intelligence platform behind the Medtronic DBS ecosystem. It captures and visualizes patient-specific brain signal data, helping clinicians make more informed programming and therapy decisions over time.
BrainSense™ provides objective data that can help clinicians identify programming starting points, evaluate therapy effectiveness, and make adjustments with greater confidence. Its suite of tools supports decision-making throughout the DBS care journey, from initial programming to ongoing optimization.
No. BrainSense™ is designed to give clinicians flexibility to start with the capabilities that fit their workflow today and expand use as their practice and patient needs evolve. The platform supports a range of experience levels and clinical approaches.
The BrainSense™ ecosystem includes sensing-enabled DBS devices, advanced programming capabilities, adaptive DBS technology for Parkinson's disease, and Electrode Identifier. Together, these tools help connect sensing data, programming insights, and patient information in one integrated approach to care.
BrainSense™ technology provides visibility into patient-specific brain signal data and therapy trends over time. By helping clinicians better understand individual patient needs, it supports more personalized and data-informed DBS care.
No. BrainSense™ technology is available exclusively with the Medtronic Percept™ family of neurostimulators. The Percept™ platform combines DBS therapy with sensing capabilities that provide access to patient-specific brain signal data and advanced tools designed to support personalized, data-informed care.
† The sensing feature of the Percept™ PC system and Percept™ RC system is intended for use in patients receiving DBS where chronically-recorded bioelectric data may provide useful, objective information regarding patient clinical status. The majority of patients with Parkinson’s disease have an identifiable signal. Signal may not be present or measurable in patients treated for essential tremor, dystonia, epilepsy or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Humanitarian device: The effectiveness of these devices for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder has not been demonstrated.
‡ Electrode Identifier is for indications that include bilateral stimulation only. EI is not approved for ET
◊ Percept™ RC as compared to Boston Scientific Vercise Genus™ R16 (MP92328632-10 Rev A) accessed September 15, 2026, and Abbott Liberta RC™ IPG (ARTEN600340313 B), accessed September 15, 2026.
Fox SH, Katzenschlager R, Lim S-Y, et al. International Parkinson and movement disorder society evidence-based medicine review: Update on treatments for the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 2018;33(8):1248–66. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29570866.10.1002/mds.27372.
Pedrosa DJ, Timmermann L. Review: management of Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2013
