Long term safety and efficacy of unilateral deep brain stimulation of the thalamus for parkinsonian tremor.

The objective was to investigate the long term safety and efficacy of unilateral deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the VIM nucleus of the thalamus in Parkinson's disease. Twelve patients with Parkinson's disease underwent unilateral DBS of the thalamus for medication resistant tremor between 1994 and 1997. Patients were evaluated with the motor section of the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) in the medication on state at baseline, 3 months, 12 months, and yearly thereafter.Three patients were lost to follow up. Nine patients had follow up evaluations greater than 24 months and were included in the analyses. The last postsurgical follow up occurred on average 40.0 (SD 17.2) months after surgery. Tremor scores were significantly improved with stimulation on at the long term follow up compared with baseline. There was no significant change in UPDRS motor scores at long term follow up compared with baseline. There was no significant change in any stimulus parameters from 3 months to the long term follow up. Two patients had asymptomatic intracerebral haemorrhages and one patient had a subcutaneous haematoma over the implantable pulse generator site. Stimulus related adverse reactions were mild and easily controlled with changes in stimulus parameters. Two patients had replacement of the implantable pulse generator due to normal battery depletion, one patient had lead repositioning due to migration, and one patient had the lead extension wire replaced due to erosion. In conclusion, unilateral DBS of the thalamus has long term efficacy for treatment of tremor due to Parkinson's disease.