Possible seizure suppression via deep brain stimulation of the thalamic ventralis oralis posterior nucleus

Surgical treatment of intractable epilepsy with deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been shown to be of therapeutic benefit in some patients and with the recent publication of a randomised control study its use is likely to increase in the future. We describe a patient who developed a focal epileptic seizure within a few seconds of momentarily turning off the DBS stimulator in the nucleus ventralis oralis posterior, with which she was successfully treated for tremor. The seizure was the result of a newly diagnosed primary brain tumor. We suggest that the nucleus ventralis oralis posterior may be another thalamic target of DBS in epilepsy.