Modulation of cortical neural dynamics during thalamic deep brain stimulation in patients with essential tremor

Although thalamic deep brain stimulation is an effective treatment for patients with essential tremor, little is known about its effect on cortical neural dynamics. Therefore, we investigated long-range temporal correlations and spectral power in electroencephalographic recordings of patients during OFF versus ON bilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation in comparison with healthy controls. Cortical dynamics were analyzed in the range of 6-30 Hz. We found the presence of long-range temporal correlations up to 20 s in patients and controls. Thalamic deep brain stimulation was associated with increased long-range temporal correlations in the high beta band (21-30 Hz) and decreased power in the low beta band (13-20 Hz) compared with OFF stimulation and healthy controls. Long-range temporal correlations in the 6-10 Hz range were increased with OFF stimulation compared with the controls. Importantly, deep brain stimulation-induced changes in long-range temporal correlations within 6-10 Hz and in the beta ranges (13-20, 21-30 Hz) were correlated with OFF-ON changes in the tremor severity and with the disease duration, respectively. The differential reactivity of long-range temporal correlations and spectral power to deep brain stimulation might suggest that both measures reflect distinct aspects of cortical dynamics and might represent biomarkers for stimulation-induced modulations of neural dynamics in electroencephalography. The fact that long-range temporal correlations, but not spectral power, were correlated with clinical information might suggest long-range temporal correlations as a potential marker for disease severity in essential tremor.