Abnormal sensory thresholds of dystonic patients are not affected by deep brain stimulation

Unlike motor symptoms, the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on non-motor symptoms associated with dystonia remain unknown.

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of DBS on evoked experimental pain and cutaneous sensory thresholds in a crossover, double-blind on/off study and compare these results with those of healthy volunteers (HV).

Sixteen patients with idiopathic dystonia (39.9 ± 13 years old, n = 14 generalized) with DBS of the globus pallidus internus underwent a battery of quantitative sensory testing and assessment using a pain top-down modulation system (conditioned pain modulation, CPM). Results for the more and less dystonic body regions were compared in on and off stimulation. The patients' results were compared to age- and sex-matched HV. Descending pain modulation CPM responses in dystonic patients (on-DBS, 11.8 ± 40.7; off-DBS, 1.8 ± 22.1) was abnormally low (defective) compared to HV (-15.6 ± 23.5, respectively p = .006 and p = .042). Cold pain threshold and cold hyperalgesia were 54.8% and 95.7% higher in dystonic patients compared to HV. On-DBS CPM correlated with higher Burke-Fahn-Marsden disability score (r = 0.598; p = .014). While sensory and pain thresholds were not affected by DBS on/off condition, pain modulation was abnormal in dystonic patients and tended to be aggravated by DBS.

The analgesic effects after DBS do not seem to depend on short-duration changes in cutaneous sensory thresholds in dystonic patients and may be related to changes in the central processing of nociceptive inputs.