Stereotactic microelectrode-guided posteroventral pallidotomy and pallidal deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's...

Three patients underwent stereotactic posteroventral pallidotomy, and 1 patient underwent pallidal deep brain stimulation, for medically intractable symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease, characterized by peak-dose levodopa dyskinesias, wearing-off fluctuations, tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia. Surgery was performed stereotactically under local anaesthesia, with eventual target coordinates derived from a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), coregistration with an electronic brain atlas, intraoperative microelectrode neuronal recordings and microstimulation before lesioning or placement of a deep brain stimulator was done. Assessment was made at baseline preoperatively and at 3-month intervals postoperatively, with Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Core Assessment Program for Intracerebral Transplantation (CAPIT) scoring. All patients improved in dyskinesia, tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia contralateral to the lesion side, but also on the ipsilateral side to a lesser extent. The improvement was largely seen in the 'off' state: UPDRS by 41%, and CAPIT by 19% on the contralateral side. 'On' freezing was not helped. There were no deaths and no visual complications, but there was one complication of a delayed contralateral upper limb dystonia after pallidotomy. The 1 patient with pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS) obtained similar improvement as those with pallidotomy. Posteroventral pallidotomy and pallidal stimulation improves all the cardinal features of Parkinson's disease, and effectively ameliorates levodopa dyskinesias.