India’s first adaptive deep brain stimulation performed at Apollo Hospitals Chennai

Apollo Hospitals, Chennai announces a major milestone in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in India, the country’s first clinical activation of Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation (aDBS). The procedure was carried out on 2 March 2026 by Dr. Vijayashankar Paramanandam, Dr. Arvind Sukumaran, and their team. The programme is led by clinicians with advanced international fellowship training in movement disorders neurology and functional neurosurgery.

A recent British Medical Journal study underscores the rising burden of Parkinson’s disease in India, with an estimated 2.8 million people expected to be living with the condition by 2050 (range 2.3–3.5 million), second only to China and accounting for nearly one-tenth of global cases. South Asia is projected to contribute nearly 6.8 million cases overall. Globally, the Parkinson’s population is expected to reach 25.2 million—up over 112% from 2021 levels—with India alone projected to see a 160–180% increase. Current global prevalence stands at 267 cases per one lakh people.

The milestone builds on the hospital’s established Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) programme, developed through sustained experience in movement disorders and functional neurosurgery. This follows an initial period of clinical follow-up to assess the patient’s response to the treatment.

Conventional DBS has transformed care for appropriately selected Parkinson’s patients by delivering continuous electrical stimulation to targeted areas of the brain. Adaptive DBS fine tunes it by introducing a more responsive approach, adjusting stimulation in real time based on the patient’s own brain signals. This approach is supported by sensing-enabled neurostimulation systems, including those developed by Medtronic, allowing therapy to better align with fluctuations in symptoms across the day.