Battery longevity of neurostimulators in Parkinson disease: A historic cohort study

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a well-established treatment for motor complications in Parkinson disease (PD). Since 2012, the nonrechargeable dual-channel neurostimulator available in France seems to have shorter battery longevity compared to the same manufacturer's previous model.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the battery longevity of older and more recent neurostimulators from the same manufacturer and to explore factors associated with battery life variations.

We retrospectively studied our cohort of PD patients who underwent STN DBS between 1987 and 2017. We collected data concerning neurostimulator replacements and parameters. We compared the survival of the first device available, Kinetra^® and the current one, Activa-PC^® (Medtronic Inc.) and estimated the factors that had an impact on battery longevity through a Cox logistic regression.

Three hundred sixty-four PD patients received a total of 654 DBS STN neurostimulators: 317 Kinetra^® and 337 Activa-PC^®. The survival analysis, using the Kaplan-Meier estimator, showed a difference between the curves of the two devices (log-rank test; p < 0.001). The median survival of an Activa-PC^® neurostimulator was 1666 days, while it was 2379 days for a Kinetra^®. After adjustment, according to the multivariate analysis, the main factors associated with battery lifetime were: the neurostimulator type; the number of subsequent neurostimulator implantations; the total electrical energy delivered (TEED); and sex.

The Kinetra^® neurostimulator lifetime is 2.5 years longer than the Activa-PC^®. The type of the device, the high TEED and the number of subsequent neurostimulator implantations influence battery longevity most. These results have medical-economic implications since the survival of PD patients with DBS increases over years.