Probabilistic sweet spots predict motor outcome for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson disease
Probabilistic sweet spots predict motor outcome for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson disease
Where did the research take place?
The study site has not been established. Author addresses may differ from where the research occurred.
DE · Author affiliation · country only
Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine University of Cologne Cologne GermanyLocation evidence
Berlin, DE · Author affiliation
Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Unit, Department for Neurology Charité–University Medicine Berlin Berlin GermanyLocation evidence
Jülich, DE · Author affiliation
Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine Jülich Research Center Jülich GermanyLocation evidence
Gießen, DE · Author affiliation
Department of Neurology University Hospital of Marburg and Gießen Marburg GermanyLocation evidence
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Original abstract
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