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.

Quality index for the quantification of the information recorded along standard microelectrode tracks to the subthalamic nucleus in parkinsonian patients.

Pralong E, Villemure JG, Bloch J, Pollo C, Daniels RT, Ghika J, Vingerhoets F, Tetreault MH, Debatisse D

Unit of Neurosurgery Neuromonitoring, Centre Hospitalier Vaudois, rue du Bugnon 21, CH-1001 Lausanne, Switzerland. etienne.pralong@hospvd.ch

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the usefulness of the neuronal activity recorded on a standard microelectrode track to the subthalamic nucleus (STN) for the determination of the transition between the thalamus and the STN. METHODS: The study is based on analysis of 689 extracelullar single units recorded on 70 tracks passing through the thalamus and the STN. Using four neuron parameters that were correlated with electrode depth, a quality index (QI) for each track was computed and compared with the subjective assessment by the electrophysiologist of the track quality. RESULTS: Subjectively, the transition between the thalamus and the STN was detected in 49 tracks (usual track) and not detected on 21 tracks (unusual tracks). Objectively, spike frequency, cell burst index (BI), signal relative root mean square (RMS) and spike relative amplitude were correlated with electrode depth and used to compute track QI. The average QI index of usual and unusual tracks was 0.25 +/- 0.9 and 0.85 +/- 0.15 (mean +/- confidence interval at P < 0.001), respectively. In 20 patients, QI correlates with post-operative measurement of electrode length in the STN. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that simple statistical analysis taking into account the variation of single-unit characteristics with electrode depth can discriminate between useful and useless tracks for the determination of the STN localisation.

Published 10 January 2005 in Neurophysiol Clin, 34(5): 209-15.
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