History of and Insights Into Spinal Cord Stimulation in Parkinson Disease

Current available therapies for Parkinson disease (PD) have strong limitations, and patients usually present with refractory symptoms despite all efforts. Deep brain stimulation (DBS), which has been used in PD patients for decades (since 1987), has best indications for symptoms like tremor, motor fluctuations, or dyskinesia. However, postural instability and gait disturbances (PIGD) have restricted benefits with DBS. In 2009, spinal cord stimulation (SCS), a well-established therapy for chronic pain, has emerged as a potential alternative therapy that may help control unresponsive symptoms such as bradykinesia, PIGD, and freezing of gait.

The main studies regarding SCS in PD are reviewed here from the first studies in animal models to the latest clinical trials.

Despite promising findings, the heterogeneity of methodologies used and small samples in human studies pose a challenging problem to be addressed in order to have robust clinical evidence to support SCS as a viable PD treatment.