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Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Intra-Operative Behavioral Tasks in Awake Humans Undergoing Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery
Published on: January 6, 2011
Impulse control behaviours in patients with Parkinson's disease after subthalamic deep brain stimulation: de novo
P Amami1, I Dekker2, S Piacentini1
1Neurologia I, Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milano, Italy.
Objective:
To document the occurrence of impulse control behaviours (ICBs) in patients with Parkinson's disease after 3 years of continuous deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN).
Methods:
Detailed neurological and ICB assessments were performed before STN DBS and up to 3 years after implant.
Results:
13 out of 56 patients (23.2%) had ICBs at baseline; they took higher doses of dopamine agonists (DAA). Three years after implant 11 had fully remitted with a 60.8% reduction of DAA medication; the remaining two, who had a similar medication reduction, had only compulsive eating, having recovered from hypersexuality. Six of the 43 patients without ICBs at baseline (14%) developed transient de novo ICBs after implant; none of them had ICBs at the 3-year observation.
Conclusions:
ICBs were abolished in patients 3 years after STN DBS and DAA dosages were lowered. New ICBs may occur after implant and are transient in most cases. Compulsive eating may be specifically related to STN stimulation.
