Lead fixation in deep brain stimulation: comparison of three lead anchoring devices in China

The accuracy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) depends on precise electrode positioning, which has been pursued for ideal treatment outcomes. As a critical component of DBS, the fixation performance of lead anchoring devices has been widely studied. Possible reasons for lead shift were analyzed in the current study and we further provided effective solutions to reduce potential manual errors.

Seventy-nine patients who received DBS implantations at the Ruijin Hospital from April to November 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Intraoperative lead shifts were measured by C-arm fluoroscopy. Lead adjustment counts were recorded and compared among three lead fixation devices: Stimloc™ (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA), TouchLoc (SceneRay, Suzhou, China), and the traditional lead anchoring device.

Mean (± SD) distances of lead shifts were 0.29 ± 2.42 mm in Stimloc devices, 0.43 ± 0.55 mm in TouchLoc devices, and 1.52 ± 1.05 mm in traditional devices (p < 0.0001). Average numbers of adjustments in this series were 0.3 ± 0.5 in Stimloc devices, 0.3 ± 1.3 in TouchLoc devices, and 1.1 ± 1.0 in traditional devices (p = 0.0001). Pairwise comparisons among the three devices (TouchLoc vs. Stimloc: p = 0.273; TouchLoc vs. Traditional: p = 0.0001; Stimloc vs. traditional: p < 0.0001) suggested significant differences, which were mainly attributed to the traditional devices.

Three lead anchoring devices have been compared for their performance in the accuracy of lead fixation, in which the newly designed lead fixation devices have presented its advantages to the traditional one. In addition to the application of the Stimloc and TouchLoc devices, verification by C-arm fluoroscopy should be performed to provide an intuitive view of the depth deviation of electrode position during DBS electrode implantation.