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Published on: August 12, 2018
Hardware-related complications of deep brain stimulation: a ten year experience
1Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden. patric.blomstedt@neuro.umu.se
Objective:
To analyse the occurrence of hardware-related complications in patients with deep brain stimulation (DBS), over a long period of time.
Method:
All patients operated on with DBS at our institution between 1993 and 2002 were followed with respect to adverse events related to the implanted hardware.
Results:
One hundred and nineteen consecutive patients underwent 139 procedures with implantation of 161 electrodes. The minimum follow-up was 12 months. The follow-up time was 540 electrode-years. The rate of hardware-related complications per electrode-year was 4.3%. In total, 17 patients (15%) had 23 hardware-related complications. These included 8 electrode breakages, 4 electrode migrations, 2 stimulator migrations, 3 erosions, 2 erosions and infections, 2 infections and 2 cases of stimulator malfunction. The majority of these complications occurred during the first four years in our experience.
Conclusions:
DBS is a life-long therapy that requires a life-long follow-up. Increased experience and adaptation of surgical technique are the main determinants for avoidance of hardware-related complications.
