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.

Stimulation of subthalamic fibre tracts reduces dyskinesias in STN-DBS.

Herzog J, Pinsker M, Wasner M, Steigerwald F, Wailke S, Deuschl G, Volkmann J

Department of Neurology, Neurozentrum, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Kiel, Germany.

Rarely, the postoperative management of patients with subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) is complicated by pharmacologically intractable dyskinesias. Here we report that in three of these patients additional stimulation of a proximal contact located within the subthalamic white matter may lead to a significant reduction of dyskinesias associated with STN-DBS. We propose that pallidofugal fiber tracts play a major role in the etiopathology of dyskinesias and their blockade through DBS may explain our observations.

Published 1 May 2007 in Mov Disord, 22(5): 679-84.
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