Presurgical factors affecting patient satisfaction with pallidal surgery in Parkinson's disease

To evaluate presurgical factors affecting patient satisfaction with pallidal surgery.

Forty-one parkinsonian patients who underwent unilateral pallidal surgery replied to a questionnaire on general satisfaction with the outcome of surgery graded on a five-point scale. The contribution of age, disease duration, required activity level, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part II activity of daily living (ADL) score and presurgical to postsurgical ADL score change to the level of satisfaction was tested. The required activity level was defined as the physical activity level which the patients required to support their families.

Multiple regression analysis revealed that age at surgery (p = 0.02), required activity level (p = 0.005), ADL score in the on phase at surgery (p = 0.001), and ADL score in the off phase at surgery (p = 0.0001) were significant contributors to satisfaction.

The patients who were relatively young and required higher activity levels tended to have a higher degree of satisfaction with the outcome, while patients with advanced age tended to be less satisfied, independent of symptomatic improvement after the surgery.