Clinical effectiveness of unilateral deep brain stimulation in Tourette syndrome

Dysfunctional basal ganglia loops are thought to underlie the clinical picture of Tourette syndrome (TS). By altering dopaminergic activity in the affected neural structures, bilateral deep brain stimulation is assumed to have a modulatory effect on dopamine transmission resulting in an amelioration of tics. While the majority of published case reports deals with the application of bilateral stimulation, the present study aims at informing about the high effectiveness of unilateral stimulation of pallidal and nigral thalamic territories in TS. Potential implications and gains of the unilateral approach are discussed.