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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Controlling Parkinson's Disease With Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation
Published on: July 16, 2014
Addiction in Parkinson's disease: impact of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation
Tatiana Witjas1, Christelle Baunez, Jean Marc Henry
1Department of Neurology, University Hospital Timone, Marseille, France. twitjas@yahoo.com
Abstract:
In Parkinson's disease, dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS) is characterized by severe dopamine addiction and behavioral disorders such as manic psychosis, hypersexuality, pathological gambling, and mood swings. Here, we describe the case of 2 young parkinsonian patients suffering from disabling motor fluctuations and dyskinesia associated with severe DDS. In addition to alleviating the motor disability in both patients, subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation greatly reduced the behavioral disorders as well as completely abolished the addiction to dopaminergic treatment. Dopaminergic addiction in patients with Parkinson's disease, therefore, does not constitute an obstacle to high-frequency STN stimulation, and this treatment may even cure the addiction.
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