Analysis of Contact Position for Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation-Induced Hyperhidrosis

Subthalamic and pallidal deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease-meta-analysis of outcomes

Although deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) and the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has become an established treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD), a recent meta-analysis of outcomes is lacking. To address this gap, we performed a meta-analysis of bilateral STN- and GPi-DBS studies published from 1990-08/2019. Studies with ≥10 subjects reporting Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) III motor scores at baseline and 6–12 months follow-up were included. Several outcome variables were analyzed and adverse events (AE) were summarized. 39 STN studies (2035 subjects) and 5 GPi studies (292 subjects) were eligible. UPDRS-II score after surgery in the stimulation-ON/medication-OFF state compared to preoperative medication-OFF state improved by 47% with STN-DBS and 18.5% with GPi-DBS. UPDRS-III score improved by 50.5% with STN-DBS and 29.8% with GPi-DBS. STN-DBS improved dyskinesia by 64%, daily OFF time by 69.1%, and quality of life measured by PDQ-39 by 22.2%, while Levodopa Equivalent Daily Dose (LEDD) was reduced by 50.0%. For GPi-DBS information regarding dyskinesia, OFF time, PDQ-39 and LEDD was insufficient for further analysis. Correlation analysis showed that preoperative L-dopa responsiveness was highly predictive of the STN-DBS motor outcome across all studies. Most common surgery-related AE were infection (5.1%) and intracranial hemorrhage (3.1%). Despite a series of technological advances, outcomes of modern surgery are still comparable with those of the early days of DBS. Recent changes in target selection with a preference of GPi in elderly patients with cognitive deficits and more psychiatric comorbidities require more published data for validation.

Case Report: Deep Cerebellar Stimulation for Tremor and Dystonia

Background: The cerebellum plays an important role in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of movement disorders, including tremor and dystonia. To date, there have been few reports on deep cerebellar stimulation.

Case Report: The patient was a 35-year-old previously healthy man with no history of movement disorders. He developed a tremor and stiffness in his left hand at the age of 27 years, which was diagnosed as a dystonic tremor. We performed right thalamotomy, which resulted in a complete resolution of the tremor; however, the dystonia persisted. Subsequently, the patient developed left foot dystonia with inversion and a newly developed tremor in the right hand and foot. The patient underwent left ventralis intermedius (VIM) deep brain stimulation (VIM-DBS) and left pallidothalamic tract DBS (PTT-DBS). Left VIM-DBS completely resolved the right hand and foot tremor, and PTT-DBS significantly improved the left hand and foot dystonia. Three months postoperatively, the patient developed an infection and wound disruption at the surgical site. We performed palliative surgery for deep cerebellar stimulation via the posterior cranial region, which was not infected. The surgery was performed under general anesthesia with the patient lying in the prone position. Eight contact DBS electrodes were used. The placement of electrodes extended from the superior cerebellar peduncle to the dentate nucleus. Both the right hand and foot tremor improved with right cerebellar stimulation. Further, both the left hand and foot dystonia improved with left cerebellar stimulation. Right and left cerebellar stimulation led to no improvement in the left hand and foot dystonia and right hand and foot tremor, respectively. Stimulation-induced complications observed in the patient included dizziness, dysphagia, and dysarthria. After the surgery, the patient developed hypersalivation and hyperhidrosis in the left side of the body, both of which did not improve with adjustments of stimulation parameters. At the 6-month follow-up, the tremor and dystonia had almost completely resolved.

Conclusion: Deep cerebellar stimulation deserves consideration as a potential treatment for tremor and dystonia.

Management of Parkinson's disease patients after DBS by remote programming: preliminary application of single center during quarantine of 2019-nCoV

Introduction

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective treatment for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). On time follow-up and timely programing of symptoms are important measures to maintain the effectiveness of DBS. Due to the highly contagious nature of 2019-nCoV, patients were quarantined. With the help of Internet technologies, we continued to provide motor and non-motor symptom assessment and remote programming services for postsurgical PD-DBS patients during this extraordinary period.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was performed on postsurgical PD-DBS patients who could not come to our hospital for programming due to the impact of the 2019-nCoV. The differences between the pre- and post-programming groups were analyzed. We designed a 5-level Likert rating scale to evaluate the effects and convenience of the remote programming and Internet self-evaluation procedures.

Results

Of the 36 patients engaged in the remote programming, 32 patients met the inclusion criteria. Four of the 32 patients set initiated stimulation parameters, and the other 28 patients had significant improvement in UPDRS-III. Nearly all the 28 patients were satisfied with the effect of the remote programming. Most of the patients were willing to use remote programming again.

Conclusion

Remote programming based on the online evaluation of patient’s symptoms can help improve motor symptoms of postsurgical DBS patients with PD during the quarantine period caused by 2019-nCoV.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s00415-020-10273-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Efforts of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation on cognitive spectrum: From explicit to implicit changes in the patients with Parkinson's disease for 1 year

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the cognitive function of Chinese patients with Parkinson's disease PD postsubthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS).

METHODS

Cognitive function was assessed by neuropsychological methods in PD patients. Twenty matched healthy persons served as normal controls. t test, analysis of variance, and chi-square analysis were used to compare the difference among the groups. Reliable change index was utilized to analyze the changes in cognition from the individual level.

RESULTS

(a) Improvement in motor function was significantly better after STN-DBS (P < .01). (b) Notably, the increase error rates of implicit SRTT (serial reaction time task) was significantly higher after STN-DBS as compared with the conservative therapy group (P = .03). (c) The decline of verbal fluency (explicit) was also significantly higher after STN-DBS than that in the medication therapy group (P = .03). (d) In the explicit clock-drawing test, scores had significantly improved after STN-DBS (P = .04).

CONCLUSIONS

STN-DBS as a neuromodulatory tool in the Chinese PD population not only improves motor symptoms but also cognitive function to a certain extent, such as the decline of executive function and verbal fluency. The explicit cognitive decline was significantly quicker than that in patients on medication therapy. The improvement of visiospatial function was also noted. Implicit memory impairment during the 1-year follow-up period was not observed.