ObjectiveTo investigate whether functional sweet spots of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) can predict motor improvement in Parkinson disease (PD) patients.MethodsStimulation effects of 449 DBS settings in 21 PD patients were clinically and quantitatively assessed through standardized monopolar reviews and mapped into standard space. A sweet spot for best motor outcome was determined using voxelwise and nonparametric permutation statistics. Two independent cohorts were used to investigate whether stimulation overlap with the sweet spot could predict acute motor outcome (10 patients, 163 settings) and long‐term overall Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part III (UPDRS‐III) improvement (63 patients).ResultsSignificant clusters for suppression of rigidity and akinesia, as well as for overall motor improvement, resided around the dorsolateral border of the STN. Overlap of the volume of tissue activated with the sweet spot for overall motor improvement explained R2 = 37% of the variance in acute motor improvement, more than triple what was explained by overlap with the STN (R2 = 9%) and its sensorimotor subpart (R2 = 10%). In the second independent cohort, sweet spot overlap explained R2 = 20% of the variance in long‐term UPDRS‐III improvement, which was equivalent to the variance explained by overlap with the STN (R2 = 21%) and sensorimotor STN (R2 = 19%).InterpretationThis study is the first to predict clinical improvement of parkinsonian motor symptoms across cohorts based on local DBS effects only. The new approach revealed a distinct sweet spot for STN DBS in PD. Stimulation overlap with the sweet spot can predict short‐ and long‐term motor outcome and may be used to guide DBS programming. ANN NEUROL 2019;86:527–538
Adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) is a promising concept for feedback-based neurostimulation, with the potential of clinical implementation with the sensing-enabled Percept neurostimulator. We aim to characterize chronic electrophysiological activity during stimulation and to validate beta-band activity as a biomarker for bradykinesia. Subthalamic activity was recorded during stepwise stimulation amplitude increase OFF medication in 10 Parkinson’s patients during rest and finger tapping. Offline analysis of wavelet-transformed beta-band activity and assessment of inter-variable relationships in linear mixed effects models were implemented. There was a stepwise suppression of low-beta activity with increasing stimulation intensity (p = 0.002). Low-beta power was negatively correlated with movement speed and predictive for velocity improvements (p < 0.001), stimulation amplitude for beta suppression (p < 0.001). Here, we characterize beta-band modulation as a chronic biomarker for motor performance. Our investigations support the use of electrophysiology in therapy optimization, providing evidence for the use of biomarker analysis for clinical aDBS.
Background: Recent technological advances in deep brain stimulation (DBS) (e.g., directional leads, multiple independent current sources) lead to increasing DBS-optimization burden. Techniques to streamline and facilitate programming could leverage these innovations. Objective: We evaluated clinical effectiveness of algorithm-guided DBS-programming based on wearable-sensor-feedback compared to standard-of-care DBS-settings in a prospective, randomized, crossover, double-blind study in two German DBS centers. Methods: For 23 Parkinson’s disease patients with clinically effective DBS, new algorithm-guided DBS-settings were determined and compared to previously established standard-of-care DBS-settings using UPDRS-III and motion-sensor-assessment. Clinical and imaging data with lead-localizations were analyzed to evaluate characteristics of algorithm-derived programming compared to standard-of-care. Six different versions of the algorithm were evaluated during the study and 10 subjects programmed with uniform algorithm-version were analyzed as a subgroup. Results: Algorithm-guided and standard-of-care DBS-settings effectively reduced motor symptoms compared to off-stimulation-state. UPDRS-III scores were reduced significantly more with standard-of-care settings as compared to algorithm-guided programming with heterogenous algorithm versions in the entire cohort. A subgroup with the latest algorithm version showed no significant differences in UPDRS-III achieved by the two programming-methods. Comparing active contacts in standard-of-care and algorithm-guided DBS-settings, contacts in the latter had larger location variability and were farther away from a literature-based optimal stimulation target. Conclusion: Algorithm-guided programming may be a reasonable approach to replace monopolar review, enable less trained health-professionals to achieve satisfactory DBS-programming results, or potentially reduce time needed for programming. Larger studies and further improvements of algorithm-guided programming are needed to confirm these results.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) electrode implant trajectories are stereotactically defined using preoperative neuroimaging. To validate the correct trajectory, microelectrode recordings (MER) can be used to match the neuroanatomy with expected neurophysiological activity patterns, commonly using up to five trajectories in parallel. However, understanding their location in relationship to basal ganglia anatomy can be challenging. Here we present a tool that integrates resources from stereotactic planning, neuroimaging, MER and high-resolution atlas data to create a real-time visualization of the implant trajectory. We show a general correspondence between features derived from neuroimaging and electrophysiological recordings and present example use cases that demonstrate the functionality of the tool. The software toolbox is made openly available, extendable and holds translational potential in the field of stereotactic neurosurgery.
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