Parkinson's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Parkinson's Disease, including details on symptoms, treatment, genetics, medication.

Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease: association between stimulation parameters and cognitive performance.

Francel P, Ryder K, Wetmore J, Stevens A, Bharucha K, Beatty WW, Scott J

Neurosurgery Clinic, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 721034, USA. paul-francel@ouhsc.edu

Chronic subthalamic nucleus stimulation produces inconsistent patterns of cognitive change in Parkinson's disease patients. Individually tailored stimulation parameters may contribute to this variable pattern of change. Systematic variation of amplitude, pulse width, and rate of stimulation has been reported to produce unique changes in motor and limbic response. To evaluate the association between stimulation parameters and cognitive/behavioral response, neuropsychological performance and stimulation parameter data of 8 Parkinson's disease patients were submitted to Pearson r correlation analysis. Results indicate that each stimulation parameter was significantly associated with a subset of measures. The current findings raise the possibility that adverse cognitive/behavioral responses may be treated through parameter modification while maintaining motor symptom efficacy.

Published 17 December 2004 in Stereotact Funct Neurosurg, 82(4): 191-3.
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