Localization of the subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson disease using multiunit activity

Refinement of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) coordinates using intraoperative microelectrode recordings (MER) is routinely performed during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgeries in Parkinson disease (PD). The commonly used criteria for electrophysiological localization of the STN are qualitative. The goal of this study was to validate quantitative STN detection algorithm (QD) derived from the multi-unit activity in a prospective setting.

Ten PD patients underwent STN DBS surgery. The MUA was obtained by removing large spikes close to microelectrode using wavelet method and integrating the 500-2000Hz band in the power spectral density. The qualitative intraoperative mapping of the STN using MER (IOM) versus QD was compared using Bland-Altman and Pearson's correlation analysis.

The clinical efficacy was confirmed in all subjects. The mean difference between IOM and QD of the dorsal/ventral border was 0.31±0.84/0.44±0.47mm. Using Bland-Altman statistic, only 2/36 (5.6%) differences (one for the dorsal border and one for the ventral border) were out of ±2 sd line of measurement differences. Correlation between dorsal border/ventral border positions obtained by IOM and QD was 0.79, p<0.0001/0.91, p<0.0001.

Both methods are in reasonable agreement and are strongly correlated. The QD gives objective coordinates of the STN borders at high precision and may be more accurate than IOM. Prospective blinded comparative studies where the DBS leads will be placed using either QD or IOM are warranted.