Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026
Controlling Parkinson's Disease With Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation
Published on: July 16, 2014
Behind the screen: pseudobulbar symptoms after deep brain stimulation
Florian Amtage1, Johann Lambeck, Sebastian Rutsch
1Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Breisacherstr. 64, Freiburg, 79106, Germany, florian.amtage@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
Background:
Thalamotomy was formerly used to treat different tremor syndromes. Nowadays, deep brain stimulation has become an established technique to treat -different movement disorders. The combination of these two stereotactic interventions is rare.
Clinical Presentation:
We present a patient in which a right-sided tremor -syndrome with an underlying pathology of combined essential tremor and Parkinsonian tremor was successfully treated initially with a left-sided thalamotomy and subsequently with -bilateral deep brain stimulation in the subthalamic nucleus.
Results:
Deep brain stimulation in the subthalamic nucleus resulted in hemidystonia, pathological laughing and crying, dysarthria and dysphagia, all due to dislocation of the stimulation electrodes contacting the internal capsule. After discontinuation of the high-frequency stimulation these side-effects disappeared, but were then reactivated by an LCD television in stand-by mode.
Conclusion:
In this report we discuss the pathophysiology of pseudobulbar symptoms and pathological laughing and crying in context of thalamotomy and dislocated DBS electrodes. Furthermore, we report on the occurrence that magnetic fields in the household have an impact on deep brain stimulation, even if they are in stand-by mode.
