Bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation in a patient with cervical dystonia and essential tremor.

The role of subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) is well established in Parkinson's disease, but experience with STN DBS in other movement disorders is limited. We report on a patient with medically refractory cervical dystonia and essential tremor resulting in dystonic head tremor and action tremor of the hands who obtained complete tremor suppression and near resolution of her cervical dystonia with bilateral STN stimulation. The results in this case demonstrate that STN DBS can dramatically improve dystonia and tremor in nonparkinsonian movement disorders.